A Charmed Story 3: Double Demons
by crazyDFFgang
Summary: Witches are disappearing... lots of witches. And what do children from good and evil have to do with all that? The Halliwells have to prevent a horrible future again. !COMPLETE!
1. Chapter 1

(Note: Please have a look on our profile!)

* * *

**A Charmed Story - Part Three:  
Double Demons  
Chapter 1 **

Chris was lying on the floor in the living room playing with little Wyatt. They were laughing a lot and frolicking around.  
Cole watched that scene from the sofa. Then he shook his head: "Unbelievable..."  
"What?" Chris asked still playing with the boy.  
"To see you so hilariously playing with the kid, and not worrying about something."  
Chris rose smiling.  
"Three months ago you were worried about your brother, then you were worried about your little self," Cole went on, "I thought you'd always be worried about something, but since you know your mother is pregnant you've changed completely man, com-plete-ly!"  
Chris began to laugh and Cole too. "Well, that was the best Christmas gift she could give to me," the Elder-witch said.  
"Oh come on... I know you knew it before your mother told it to all of us on Christmas..." Chris grinnedn widely. Of course he did...  
"And don't remind me of Christmas..." Cole went on laughing. "I think I will never forget that look on the face of Phoebe's ex-lover, when he met me, when he came here by surprise to gain her back..."  
Chris grinned: "Yeah... poor Jason... but, they would have splitted up anyway..."  
"Lucky me, huh?" Cole gave back.  
Then they heard the front door. Seconds later Piper went in. "You wanna have a look?" she asked smiling at Chris.  
"On what?"  
She pulled a little printing out of her bag. There was a big black space on it with a little white spot. It was the first picture of Chris, a picture from the ultrasonic.  
Chris stared at it and frowned: "Are you sure that this will be me?"  
"Well... I hope so," Piper said and winked to him. Then both started to laugh.  
Cole smiled at that sight. He was really happy that his nephew was feeling so well those days. He deserved that little break, even Belthazor was still outside. But here at the manor they were safe.

°°°°°°°°°°

A little later Piper went into her room. She had just closed the door when Bianca shimmered in.  
"Woo, girl, don't scare me that much, or I may blow you up next time," Piper said surprised. Then she noticed that the girl had tears in her eyes. Piper led Bianca to her bed and sat down with her. "What's wrong?" she asked.  
But instead of telling anything, Bianca broke down crying. Piper wrapped her arms around her and tried to make her feel comfortable and safe.  
"What's wrong, sweetie? You can tell me everything, you know that," Piper said softly.  
"I... I'm pregnant," Bianca said sobbing.  
Piper frowned but then she smiled: "Pregnant? But that's wonderful... I'm not the only pregnant woman here anymore, that's great... even if I'll be then a grandma..." She frowned, but then she smiled again: "So where is the problem? Did you tell that to Chris? Is he..." Her voice was really happy, as happy as she was too.  
"No, no," Bianca cried, "I can't tell him... I can't get that baby... I can't!"  
Piper was starting to worry: "Why not, sweetie?"  
Bianca rose a little: "You remember when the Phoenixes caught me?"  
Piper nodded: "After you told them that you were still here to make sure that Wyatt stays on the side of the good, they let you go."  
The Phoenix was still sobbing: "Under one condition. The relationship between me and a witch should end with us, no offspring from this forbidden relationship or they'll kill my little self and my child, too." Again she started to cry full of pain.

°°°°°°°°°°

At the same time Phoebe was sitting in the library of the magic school.  
"Did you find anything that could help us kill the worst half of your boyfriend?" Paige asked grinning a little. She had just come in.  
"No... But we have to find something... soon... Cole believes that Belthazor is getting stronger each day," Phoebe explained with a sad voice.  
Although she was quite down and pessimistic about it, she wouldn't let her nephews, sisters, or Cole know. She didn't want them to worry now they looked like the happy family they had always wanted to be. But the truth was, that she didn't believe there was hope at all regarding Belthazor. How were they supposed to find something about him in old books? All the spells and potions were written before Belthazor mixed with the source of all evil...  
They had thought about using the spell that appeared on the book of Shadows to kill Belthazor as such, but Paige had pointed out that it was useless. Besides, the powers of the source had developed, as Cole guessed, and the potions mentioned in the books wouldn't work either.  
Both demons in one body made of him the most powerful and dangerous enemy they had ever faced. And sooner or later, he'd find a way into their homes and lives. Those were Phoebe's thoughts, not very optimistic actually...

°°°°°°°°°°

Piper had been hugging Bianca gently for ten minutes, and caressing her hair. She whispered soft words of encouragement aimed to calm her down.  
"Look, sweetie... You're with us now... The Halliwells! We're gonna find a way, I promise. What you need to do right now is to stay calm, think about the precious baby you bear and not to worry at all, ok?"  
Bianca nodded, slowly.  
"Do you promise?" Piper asked in a concerned tone.  
Bianca nodded again, sobbing.  
"And what can I do about... Chris? I don't want him to know..." she whined. "He looks so happy now, I can't... I just can't spoil his happiness this way."  
"You could tell him you're pregnant. He would be the happiest man in the world..." suggested Piper.  
But she was cut in immediately by Bianca: "God, no! If I tell him that, they're going to know. He won't stop talking about it, and even if he hasn't realised, we're being watched all the time, Piper. I... I'm even worried about it now..."  
She turned around.  
Piper knew which her fears were. "Don't worry, the manor is full of witches and Elders, and whitelighters... We would feel any presence, you know? Nobody has listened to our conversation."  
Bianca nodded once again.  
"So... sweetie... What are you gonna do?" continued Piper.

°°°°°°°°°°

"Chris..." Teased Cole after Piper had gone. The boy raised his head, waiting for him to continue.  
"You know... I saw the image and..."  
Chris frowned. "And?"  
"Well... I didn't think that tiny thingy... you know. Are you sure that it's a boy?" Chris opened his eyes widely and turned white as the snow, but at that point, Cole couldn't keep serious and burst into laughing.  
Chris frowned feigning his anger: "Oh, come on, that's not funny! You almost kill me of a heart attack, uncle!"  
Still frowning, he went to the sofa and sat down next to him: "You saw it, didn't you? By the way... What the hell were you doing looking at... that? Are you sick?"  
Cole laughed more and more, and then patted Chris's knee, but this time the boy was starting to be truly angry and looked at him waiting for an explanation.  
"Come on, Chris... Your mom has been pregnant for only three months. We can NOT see if it's a boy or a girl yet!"  
Chris raised an eyebrow, and blushed. "Ok, well. It's a HE, anyway... And how am I supposed to know that? I've never been a daddy..." he said crossed, as Cole laughed. 'Yeah, I know... I'm funny. In all its senses. Wyatt...' he thought, '- HIS Wyatt - when he was still somehow good... used to tell me that very same thing. That I'm funny. I think he meant I'm a good aim for people to laugh at.' He grimaced.  
Cole got calmer and calmer, and finally he sighed, still grinning. He loved those moments with Chris. He thanked him secretly everyday for having given him the opportunity of living this new life, and with him there.  
"You know, uncle Cole... You were wondering why I'm not worried anymore..." Chris went on, pensive. "Well, when future Wyatt came, he did it because he wanted to tell me something."  
Cole tensed, because he knew what Wyatt wanted to tell him. The truth was that Chris hadn't spoken about it, nor himself, since that day. Even Leo, who seemed to know something too, kept quiet. Actually... Cole wasn't sure at all if Wyatt had told Chris, although he guessed he had, because they had been left alone on the bridge so much time. But now he realised that Chris didn't know that Wyatt had told him too.  
Cole nodded and the boy went on: "He told me that... that I, and my other version, were gonna die because I always want to do things on my own, because I always want to do everything, and think that I don't need anyone else to do it." Chris frowned: "Do you know how scared I was that day?"  
Cole closed his eyes, in pain.  
"I have to live with that, eeeeveryday wondering if I'll be able to stop it... But I wouldn't show that to him. Instead, I made a promise. And you see..." he smiled, "I'm keeping it. I promised that, when that moment he mentioned came, I wouldn't go alone... And... Like a good intention for the new year, last week I decided to extend my promise to every aspect of my life. That's why I'm not worried anymore, uncle... Timetravelling shows you that life passes, and you don't even realise. From now on everyday, I'll tell myself 'Carpe Diem'. Seize the moment, don't worry so much, take it easy... everything will come whenever it has to come."  
Cole sighed. "Yeah, and if you keep that promise, you'll save your life and your other self..." he said reassuringly.  
Chris smiled at him: "Yes, I know. Now I know that."  
"Well, Chris!" said Cole, patting his knee and trying to cheer the atmosphere up. "Your sentence will be Carpe Diem... fine! Do you know which is mine?" he asked, as he walked to little Wyatt, in order to play with him.  
Chris shook his head, curious, still sitting on the sofa.  
"Hakuna Matata, man. Hakuna Matata... Forget the past!"  
Chris laughed again, but Cole tried to keep serious, although he wanted to laugh as much as him: "So, join your sentence to mine, and you get this: 'Forget the past, and forget the future'..."  
"So... Carpe Diem!" continued Chris.  
"Not exactly, Chris." Cole looked back at him: "Both sentences mean: Nothing's written, anywhere. So no matter what... Just don't worry because you're still in time to write your own life." He smiled: "And it'll be a very good one."  
Chris kept thoughtful for a moment, but then, someone else entered the lounge.  
"Dad?" he rose when he saw the worried face of his father.  
"Is Piper back?" Leo asked.  
"Yes, she is, but... what's wrong...?"  
Leo sighed: "Something is going on out there. In the last two days more than 25 witches got lost."  
"Lost?" Cole asked and sat up.  
Leo nodded: "The other Elders don't know if they are still alive, we simply can't find them."  
"But what...?" Chris wanted to ask something.  
Cole interrupted him: "Belthazor!"  
Leo nodded: "That's also my opinion, but we're not sure. There is no proof."  
Cole stood up. "No proof? How funny. The guy is getting more and more powerful by minute, we have to do something!" he yelled.  
"He's right," Chris added.  
Leo nodded: "We should talk to Paige and Phoebe. And your mother should go to the magic school, hopefully she is safe there."  
Chris grinned: "Mum will never accept that."  
"I don't care if she accepts it or not... Hell, she's pregnant!"

°°°°°°°°°°

"But..." Bianca went on, "I can't have this baby, even if I want to... They WILL find out and they WILL KILL IT!" I can't do that..." Again she was crying.  
Piper felt helpless. She didn't know what she could do or say. That was really a big problem.  
"Piper?" That was Leo's voice from the stairs.  
Piper turned to Bianca: "I think you'd better leave, before he gets here...We'll go on talking about this later, o.k.?"  
She nodded.  
"And do nothing wrong, dear..." Piper added, before the Phoenix shimmered out. The she stood up and went to the door just at the same time it was opened by Leo. "Hey! Honey!" she exclaimed, before kissing him sweetly.  
But then she noticed he was worried about something. "What's going on?  
"I need you to come with me to the magic school, Piper," he said.  
Piper grinned. "I know you really miss me there, but don't you think this is excessive? I'll be right here," she joked.  
"Piper, this is serious, I need you to come and stay there for protection, o.k.? In these two days many witches have disappeared, we think that Belthazor is up to something, and we're the main aim..." he explained.  
Piper frowned. "Look, honey, if that's so... Won't you think I'm gonna stay there waiting for you to solve it all?" she asked, crossed.  
"Yes, actually, I expect that, so does Chris and your sisters, and Cole..."  
"I'm an adult, I can do my own will, Leo! I won't let my family alone in this!" she interrupted him.  
"But you bear a baby. And that baby is very worried, you know..." he smiled, and made Piper laugh, finally.  
Then she sighed. Maybe if she stayed there with Bianca, they both would be able to work on something about her baby... on their own, without anyone knowing...  
So she nodded, and this time Leo frowned. "Do you agree then?" he couldn't believe she was giving up so easily.  
"Yeah, come on, take me there before I regret it," she answered.

°°°°°°°°°°

"Piper? Cole? What are you doing here?" asked Phoebe after they had entered the library.  
"Leo brought us here," the witch answered with her little son in her arms.  
Cole smiled at his love: "Yeah we're imprisoned here, for our own safety!" In his voice Phoebe heard, and she also felt, that he wasn't happy about that.  
"What's going on?" Paige asked.  
"Leo isn't sure but..." Piper started.  
But Cole interrupted her: "Belthazor is taking witches."  
Piper rolled her eyes: "We don't know if it's really him. We only know that some witches got lost during the last days," Piper ended her explanation.  
Paige frowned: "That doesn't sound good."  
"Mrs. Halliwell!" It was Tom who ran into the room. "Oh, I didn't know that there is a kind of meeting," he apologised.  
"It's o.k., what do you want?" Phoebe asked.  
"Well... Andy Miller from the 5th grade tried a new spell and now Shirley has the head of a frog... and Andy doesn't know how to change her back."  
Paige sighed, while Phoebe tried hard not to laugh out loud. Piper smiled, put little Wyatt in the arms of his uncle and pushed Tom out of the room: "Come on, I think we can handle that."  
Paige and Phoebe watched her sister leave. Then the empath turned to Cole. "Could you handle that?" she asked pointing to Wyatt.  
Cole smiled: "I did it the last hundred times, so I will do it this time, too."  
"You will be a good daddy," she answered and gave him a kiss.  
"But not too fast," he replied smiling, "at the moment I'm busy enough with this one."  
Phoebe grinned at him. Then he turned to her sister: "Come on, orb us home, Paige."  
And so they did. Cole watched the orbing-lights disappear. Then he looked at Wyatt. "Well... and now, we're gonna play a little... what do you think?"  
Wyatt smiled at him, with his eyes wide open. "Un-ke Co," he said.  
Cole smiled. That was the first time Wyatt tried to speak his name. He was surprised how proud he was of that. He kissed the boy on his cheek.  
"Yes," he said while leaving the room, "uncle Cole will now play with you."

°°°°°°°°°°

Paige and Phoebe orbed to the attic where Chris and Leo were waiting for them.  
"Hey boys," Paige asked as soon as they materialised, "what exactly happened? Piper told us that there are witches missing."  
Leo nodded.  
"I was up there right a minute ago," Chris answered, "actually the Elders - we - miss 27 witches. They don't know what happened. They were there and then, within a second, there was no sign of them anymore."  
Phoebe frowned: "That's mysterious."  
"Yeah," Leo nodded, "but that isn't all... actually there are also 3 whitelighters missing."  
"Oh my god," Paige murmured.  
After a short break of silence, Paige rose to speak again: "I'll go to Darryl, maybe he knows something."  
"Yes, but you shouldn't go alone, so I'll come with you," Leo added.  
"And me and Chris we will have a look at the book, maybe we'll find something," Phoebe suggested.  
Chris agreed.  
"O.k., then... take care of yourselves," Paige said and she and Leo orbed away.

°°°°°°°°°°

Darryl was cooking, with an apron around his waist, and whistling an old song he had always loved. His wife was playing with the little kid. It was a quite day, he had asked for a day off, so he could spend it with his family.  
Well, right, he knew there was a special and very strange case about 25 missing people, but he really needed that day, and his colleagues would take charge of the case on her own, while he was away. ''27 persons'', had just said the newsreader on tv. The last news was that two other missing women had been reported.  
He should have known, but he had decided to forget about everything related to work that day. EVERYthing. That included his beeper, mobile phone, and everything.  
However, he had forgotten about the radio and the tv... "Shoot" He cleaned his hands and sighed, pensive.  
He should go to the police station and take charge again of the case. He couldn't just stay behind while more and more people kept on disappearing that way.  
"Damn it!" How would he tell Sheila?  
Suddenly blue orbs filled the kitchen. Darryl jumped spooked before he saw Leo and Paige.  
"This is important, Darryl. We need your help," said Paige, as Leo nodded, worriedly.  
"How many times have I said that I don't want magic in MY house? What if I have some guests? What if I'm not alone? What if...?" he stopped, and looked around. "Just... Please..." he whispered, while he untied his apron. "Don't-do-it-a-gain. Pleaassse," he remarked.  
Paige and Leo looked at each other and sighed.  
"Ok... sorry. But we need you now, this is really important," stated Leo.

°°°°°°°°°°

"Can you find something?" asked Phoebe, while she stared at his frowning and concentrated nephew. She had been preparing some coffee. She knew he loved it, and worked better with a good cup of coffee between his hands.  
And he must have found something already, actually, because he was completely absorbed on that page of the book.  
Chris didn't answer, so the witch approached him and looked over his shoulder. _"INDEX"_ she read. Then she stopped suddenly. "Index? Are you reading the index?" What the hell, she didn't even know that the Book of Shadows had an index... That had never occurred to any of them... Quite funny, but what was he reading there, so concentrated?  
"Chris... Have you found something, by chance?"  
He still kept quiet.  
"Chris! demon!" she yelled.  
All of a sudden, Chris turned to her and blasted his rays, one of his new powers as an Elder, against a wooden wardrobe.  
"Oh... That was rude, Chris... That was Grandma's favourite wardrobe..."  
"Phoebe!" he exclaimed annoyed, "Why did you do that? I was focused on something!"  
"Yeah..." she chuckled, "On the index. For half an hour..."  
Chris blushed: "Ok... see, I think better when I'm staring at something, fine?"  
"So you were thinking, but not looking anything up in the book?" she asked. "I left you with this alone, because you seemed to do what you were doing! Ok... I hope this coffee helps," she sighed, handing him the cup."  
"Thanks, aunt..." he muttered, "I'm sorry... The problem is.. I was thinking what the hell should I find here... Because I don't remember any case like this one, not even in any of my futures... and well, since all this stuff is so new..."  
"It's a demon, kidnapping witches. That's all. It's always the same."  
"No, it's not, if not even their whitelighters can sense them. Even if the very whitelighters are being kidnapped."  
"They cannot be sensed if they're in the Underworld..."  
Chris frowned: "Yeah... But the Elders... we, usually know all this. We do... And this time we're at loss, all of us. There's no clue..."  
She put her hand on his shoulder: "Relax, take the coffee. I'll go on looking for something, ok?" And she took over his place.

°°°°°°°°°°

Piper was looking at the frog, or better at Shirley. She couldn't help smiling.  
"O.k., where is the spell," she then asked the very fearful-looking Andy. He gave her a sheet of paper.  
Piper read it carefully. Then she smiled again.  
"Oh, that's very simple... It's easy to turn her," she explained, "It's just like in the fairytale, you only have to kiss her."  
Andy swallowed and Tom, who stood next to Piper, grinned.  
"Come on," Piper said again, and pointed at the frog, err... the girl.  
Hesitantly, Andy went over to her and gave her a little kiss on her cheek. Then there was a little "puff" and the girl was herself again.  
Andy sighed relieved. But when he noticed the girl's furious look at him, he ran out the room. Shirley followed him. Tom and Piper were laughing.  
Then, Piper turned around to the group and asked: "What did you learn from this?"  
No one said anything.  
So Piper turned to the young man next to her and smiled: "Tom?"  
Tom was abashed, but answered: "Even spells from fairytales can work if they are spoken by a witch..."  
"Right!" Piper said smiling, nodded to the group and went out.  
Tom followed her: "Mrs. Halliwell?"  
"Yes," said Piper turning around again.  
"I'm sorry, I should have known that," Tom said turning red.  
She sighed: "Tom... Nobody knows everything... We're learning our whole life... You're one of our best witches from the last year, that's why you and your friends helped us, that's why you and your friends are still helping us."  
"But..."  
"No buts... We wouldn't have asked you to hold some lessons, if we were not sure about that... o.k.?"  
Tom nodded: "O.k."  
"And now go back before they make another foolery," she added smiling.  
Tom smiled back, and then returned to his class.  
Piper followed him with her eyes, but her thoughts were at a different place. She had to talk to Bianca.

°°°°°°°°°°

"What can I do for you?" Darryl asked with a sigh.  
"Well... we are missing a few witches," Leo started.  
Darryl rose an eyebrow: "A few?... you are not talking about 27 witches... or do you?"  
"Yes, we do," Paige answered.  
Darryl sighed again.  
"So you know about it?" Leo asked.  
The man laughed: "Surely, or do you think the police wouldn't have noticed it when there are so many people missing?"  
"Sorry," Leo murmured.  
"Is there anything about them which is... unusual?" Paige asked.  
"No, not really. Some were missed when they went to work, others after they left work, some when they went shopping... And there is absolutely no sign of them."

°°°°°°°°°°

Chris was sitting on the ground facing Phoebe who was looking through the book.  
His mind was turning around their problem... 27 witches missing... 3 whiteligthers missing... whitelighters?  
"I think there is something very wrong," Chris said more to himself.  
But Phoebe heard him: "What do you mean?"  
"Well... A whitelighter can orb, so... why can't they escape?"  
"Maybe because of a magical cage? We trapped you also, do you remember?" Phoebe replied.  
"Yes, sure... but... I mean, the whitelighters know about the danger, how could they step in the trap, and not orbing away, or something?" Chris tried to explain his mind, what his feelings were just telling him.  
Phoebe nodded... She wasn't sure if she understood him, but she felt what kind of feelings he had inside. She felt his sorrow.

°°°°°°°°°°

Cole was still playing with little Wyatt on the floor, having a good time after all. It was hard for him just to stay back and observe, while the others risked their lives to save the world. Whatever the side he had been on along his life, he had been a man of action.  
And now, although he had already got over the feeling of being useless and all, he was still feeling a little bit... bored, so to speak. Whenever the family got out in a hunting march, he had to wait for their return, not knowing if things had gone fine or not. He wasn't one of those who like waiting... So this was hard.  
But precisely because of that, he had become used to play with the little child a lot. He, with his giggling and happiness, helped him spend those moments easily, helped him forget the boredom and worries. Cole looked around to ensure no one was watching. Then smirked at Wyatt.  
"Come on, little warrior... Do you know what? You're a warrior... That's what your name means," he laughed, "so, show me your little new power, buddy."  
Then he approached the boy's ear, playfully, as Wyatt giggled.  
"Come, on, now your mommy won't be angry at me..."  
The boy laughed happily, and jumped. Cole laughed too. He knew he wouldn't be understanding him, but he felt like he was the uncle meant to spoil the child. In the good sense! So he tried again.  
"Don't you wanna show it to me, warrior? Look at this," he took a teddy bear. "Orb," he added.  
That, Wyatt understood. That was a very repeated word at his home. And the child had just discovered he could do it too... so he did it. He orbed the little teddy bear to...  
"Wow!" exclaimed Nicki, startling Cole, who quickly turned back.  
"Oh..." he said, blushing. He had been caught 'spoiling' the child.  
The girl had just entered the library, and the teddy bear had orbed straight to her arms.  
"Mommy is gonna get angry now, Wyatt... Don't tell her it was me who asked you..." he said, smiling, at the boy.  
Wyatt laughed a little bit more, as Nicki approached the couple, grinning: "What a couple of naughty little boys." She said, handing the bear to Wyatt.  
"Yeah..." said Cole standing up. "Well, this is what happens when the big guys don't let you take part in their business..." he said faking an annoyed expression.  
Nicki just laughed again: "Ok, you two... don't worry. I won't tell Piper that her little child is learning how to use his powers for personal gain... Your secret is safe with me." She winked.  
"Hey... don't you think that this personal-gain stuff is annoying? I mean... sometimes... it's funny. So much power for nothing..." he joked.  
Nicki shook her head: "You won't tempt me... you've lost your old demonic capacities, Cole." He smiled: "Yeah, I suppose so... Thanks God."  
Nicki laughed at his puns and wordplays. Even though Cole was one of them, one of the Halliwells - somehow - he was human, and not a teacher... And Nicki felt at ease with him. It was easier for her to speak to him naturally. He was brave, as he had shown when he offered his blood to save them all. But he was also the nearest person in the world. She looked up to him, and at the same time she knew she could speak to that man with so many years of experience of all kinds. He knew how to be amusing and serious at the appropriate moments. And to top it all, he was the best friend of his beloved headmaster, Chris...  
"By the way... what are you doing here, girl? Don't you have any class?" he asked.  
"Yes. Well, actually I need a couple of books, to explain something to these kids... About... the history of the magic school, and all..."  
Cole nodded. Then he went to Wyatt again. "Little Warrior and I thought you had free time to spend with us..." he added.  
Nicki smiled. It was weird for her to see that child as the blonde grown-up man she had met about four months ago... It would be funny to see him growing up.  
"Well, maybe later... I need to go now," she smiled, and then disappeared through the door.  
"You and me alone again, buddy!" sighed Cole.  
"Icki... Co... Icki..." repeated the boy.  
"Nicki?" he smiled. "Yes, that's her name... Do you like her? Huh? A bit old for you..."  
"Icki..." Wyatt said again, jumping.  
"Yeah..." Cole kept thoughtful for a moment. "I guess you like that name, don't you?" Cole thought about it. It was weird, actually... Robert Burns, the Scottish poet... used the name Nick to refer to the devil... Which, for him, was the Source of all evil... Life is weird... He sighed. Anyway, not many people know that, and Nicki sounds fine... A good name.  
"Ok, buddy... If you like it, who knows, I can take it into account," he smiled, "for future references. Just remind me, fine?"

°°°°°°°°°°

"Bianca...? Sweetie, it's me, Piper..." the witch crossed carefully the door into Bianca and Chris's room, in the school.  
The little apartment where they lived was small, but with a little lounge and a sort of a kitchen inside, a bedroom, and a toilet. They had decorated it so beautifully, that the size wasn't really important. They felt at home there. Well, whenever they weren't at the manor, which were the less times.  
"Yeah...?" answered a sleepy Bianca.  
"Oh... I'm sorry...Were you having a rest? Don't you feel fine?" Piper asked, looking for the girl.  
"Yeah, I'm fine, thanks..." Bianca came before her, slowly and tired. She had been in the toilet, and her eyes were red and swollen.  
"Oh, honey... I wish I could do something else. But right now..." Piper hugged her. "I know how difficult this is for you... But we're gonna find a way, o.k.?"  
Bianca nodded, but she was devastated: "I've been thinking about... well, when Wyatt came... he didn't mention anything about a nephew. Or a niece... I'm afraid I... we're not having it. What if it gets killed? I'm not sure, Piper... Maybe the best I can do is... you know. Better now than when we have it..."  
Piper shook her head determined: "No way, Bianca. You want it, I know. He will want it. And it's no one else's decision. No matter the deal you agreed, or whatever. The child will be born. And no one is gonna hurt it. And as for Wyatt... future consequences, remember? He didn't mention many things... we don't even know why exactly he came, and Chris won't tell us... And girl, I've learnt not to ask."  
She sighed.  
"So forget it. If your child was meant to be there in his future, none of us would have known."  
Bianca gave her a weak smile.  
"Maybe I should... talk to my mother?" she suggested, not very sure of it.

°°°°°°°°°°

"What about you and Cole?" Chris suddenly asked.  
Phoebe looked up, not sure what her nephew was talking about: "What?"  
"Will you marry him one day?"  
Phoebe looked at him with eyes and mouth wide open: "What?... Well... I think we have other problems at this moment..." She turned back to the book shaking her head.  
"Sorry, I was just trying to clear my mind a little," he answered. After a short break he added: "Will you?"  
Phoebe just smiled at him, but didn't answer. Well, she didn't even know the answer, she hadn't thought about that until he had asked. She was happy with Cole, but all that had happened so fast... She felt that she needed more time.  
"Hey what's that?" she suddenly asked.  
"What?" Chris jumped up and went over to her.  
"Here," Phoebe pointed at the entry following the one about Belthazor, "I was just looking through it, just flipping thought the pages and suddenly noticed that. I can't remember having seen it before."  
Chris looked closely at the tiny little letters in the corner of the page, which were so small that it was easy to overread them. _"Vanquish a mix of two demons is as easy as cleaning a shirt which is dirty from grass and ice-cream,"_ he read smiling.  
"That doesn't make sense," Phoebe remarked.  
"Well, I think it does even if I don't know which sense..." Chris said still smiling from one side to the other.  
Phoebe was looking at him bewildered: "Chris Halliwell, would you please be so kind to explain your thoughts to me?"  
"I don't know what that sentence mean, but I know the handwriting!" he answered.  
"Huh?" Phoebe was confused, even if she felt a kind of joy inside her nephew.  
"It's Wyatt's handwriting..." Chris added still smiling.

* * *

_(Chapter 1 written by Chrissy.W.x and Belén)_


	2. Chapter 2

**A Charmed Story - Part Three:  
Double Demons  
Chapter 2**

"Is there nothing that those witches have in common? I mean, apart from being witches?" Paige asked again.  
"Darryl shook his head: "Nothing!"  
Leo and Paige looked at each other helpless.  
"Could you now tell me what you know about that?" Darryl asked.  
Leo sighed: "Well, we don't know much more than you... Only that 27 witches and also 3 whitelighters have disappeared all of a sudden. And we can't sense them."  
"That sounds bad," Darryl replied.  
"That sounds really bad!" Paige added.  
For a moment they kept silent. None of them knew what else to say.  
"Sweetie, what about the meal?" that was Darryl's wife from the other room.  
"O.k., we'll go now," Leo said, "please, call us if you find something out, o.k.?"  
Darryl nodded and Leo and Paige orbed away.

°°°°°°°°°°

Phoebe and Chris looked up when they saw the blue orbing-lights entering the attic.  
"Hey, have you found something?" Leo asked.  
"Where is Paige?" Phoebe asked back.  
Leo looked around. Then he looked at the others with a worried face: "She was next to me when we left Darryl!"  
Chris's smile disappeared from his face suddenly: "What? I mean... She was with you... Orbing with you... How can she have just... vanished?" He was paler now.  
Leo shook his head nervously. "She orbed at the same time but we were not touching each other... She might have orbed somewhere else..." he suggested, not convinced at all. Phoebe frowned: "Come on, Leo... Where would she go? And why? To freak us all out? And don't tell me she got lost in the middle of her orbs. When she started doing it, it was possible. Now, that doesn't make any sense, for God's Sake!"  
Chris sat down on the floor, trembling and pale.  
"Ok, it was just an idea... Phoebe, what can I do? She was with me, we didn't even step on the street! How the hell did this happen?" Leo yelled, defensive.  
"Try to sense her dad..." Chris said, interrupting Phoebe's attempt to go on yelling. He had tried to sense his aunt, but couldn't. However, he didn't dare to tell them, before Leo himself made an attempt.  
But his father shook his head, helplessly. Chris lowered his eyes.  
"28... witches," Chris muttered.  
"Or 4 whitelighters..." Leo remarked, tiredly.  
All of them kept in silence for a while, until Phoebe broke out: "Ok... We're not gonna stay here, waiting for another witch to disappear... Whoever is doing this, even if it's not Belthazor, is going to regret having messed up with the Halliwells!"  
Chris nodded, and stood up: "You're right... " He sighed: "Let's see what my brother meant with this... riddle."  
"What?" Leo asked confused. "Your brother, Wyatt? What are you talking about?"

°°°°°°°°°°

"... and lived happily ever after," Cole closed the book with a strong thud, and left it on the tower of books that laid by him. His eyes wanted to close too, and his mouth was dry.  
"Mo," Wyatt said, clapping his hands.  
"More?" Cole smiled tiredly: "I think I've read all the fairy tales that have been written in the history of this world... Maybe your other self told you about those that still have to be invented..." He sighed, taking one of the books at the bottom of the tower.  
"Look, we've read the Sleeping Beauty, the Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Little Red Hood, Peter Pan..." he enumerated all of them, as he was re-reading the titles, "Cinderella... Hamlet... Hamlet?" He frowned: "Oh... I don't think so."  
Wyatt giggled.  
"Have we?"  
Wyatt clapped his hands again. Cole sighed and said in a loud voice: "Buddy, I guess you don't understand a word of what I read, I could be reading The Quixote, and you'd go on giggling..."  
"Mo... "  
"No, no more. Let's play with the teddy bear now, right?"  
"Mo, mo, mo..." and he orbed away.  
"Hey! Don't do..." But there was no Wyatt anymore, "...that. Oh, hell… Your mom is gonna kill me." He said this as he stood up, but he suddenly stopped: "Mo… mom? Damn it. He was saying Mom… I'll have to get used to this children language if I really want to be that favourite uncle of them." He went out of the library.

°°°°°°°°°°

"I don't know, honey..." Piper said. "Your mother loves you... even if she is... who she is. But look. That's the reason why it could be dangerous. She loves YOU, that includes your little self, too. If this child represents a danger for her… for you. You'll be putting your mother in a serious problem, and yourself. I think we can handle this, don't worry. For now, stay here, we're safe in the school until all the mess out there is wiped. Then, we'll take charge of this stuff."  
Then she smiled at Bianca, and she gave her own smile back at her future mother-in-law.  
"Ok..." she muttered.  
After that, they both spent a long time talking about other lighter things, nothing that brought their worries back. Suddenly, white-blue orbs filled the room...  
"Wyatt!" both women exclaimed, surprised.  
"I thought I had told you not to orb! Unless we tell you to do so!" Piper hugged the boy, "your uncle must be really worried now, man... You're a naughty boy."  
They laughed.  
"Oh..." she went on. "Or was it him that told you to use your powers? Because if it was him... grrr..." she said playfully as Wyatt giggled.

°°°°°°°°°°

"Wyatt? Wyatt?" Cole cried out for him, walking through the hallway.  
A door opened and Piper appeared with her son in her arms.  
"Looking for him?" She asked with a big smile on her face.  
Cole rushed to the boy and kissed him.  
"Thank God! He shouldn't orb... I mean witches and whitelighters are missing... He shouldn't do that. Stop him ok?" he asked, now really worried.  
Piper grew pale. She hadn't thought about that at all. "We have to tell Leo."  
She wanted to call him but then stopped. "Maybe I shouldn't call him like that... I mean that could be dangerous too... "  
"Well we have to do it in the old-fashioned way." Bianca interrupted them both.  
Cole and Piper looked at her. "Sending a letter?"  
"No Piper. An E-mail."  
The Phoenix laughed. "Electronic age huh? No. I'll shimmer," she said and disappeared.  
"You didn't tell him, to use his powers, did you?" Piper said now, while a giggling Wyatt reached out his small arms for Cole.  
He carried him into the library while Piper went on talking. "I have to go to the teachers and tell them that the pupils might be in danger. You, Cole, stay with Wyatt."  
She was nearly out of the door when she turned around: "Wyatt? Don't scare mommy or uncle Cole anymore ok? No orbing or using your powers. Understand Wyatt Matthew Halliwell?" She used his full name to make sure that he wouldn't do that again.

°°°°°°°°°°

"Wyatt left a note...we saw it after we went through the index because of Belthazor's entry and there... well, I think he wrote it in the future to help us." Chris said, showing Leo the entry in the book.  
"Ah... the index. In the future!"  
"Hell, I don't know, but it wasn't there before." Chris answered him.  
"Wait, we knew we had an index?" Phoebe asked suspicious.  
"Yeah. Of course every book has an index." Leo had his "speech"-voice.  
But Chris interrupted: "Guys! Aunt Paige?"  
"Yeah, right. Let me see."

°°°°°°°°°°

"Ouch... Damn it. Leo?" Paige woke up. Everything around her was dark. "Oh, not again. I swear that if I'm in that stupid cellar again..."  
"Hello?" Paige jolted.  
The tiny voice said again a shy "Hello? Mrs. Matthews?"  
"Who's there?"  
"It's me. Nicki." The voice cried.  
"Nicki?" Paige tried to see something but it was too dark. "Where are you?"  
Suddenly someone touched her hand: "I'm here, next to you, Mrs. Matthews!"  
"Are you o.k., Nicki? Do you know where we are?" Paige asked trying to find out if she herself was hurt in anyway. But she was alright, as it seemed.  
"I don't know where we are," the girl answered and sighed. "But here are a lot more witches," she went on explaining, "no power seems to work, no spell, no telepathical thing, nothing."  
"Do you know if anybody was here, a demon or someone else... Someone who is responsible for all this?"  
"No, there was nobody," another voice, a deep one, appeared next to Paige.  
"Who are you?" she asked.  
"Derrick Anderson, I was the first one imprisoned here," he said. Paige guessed, that he must be around 50 or 60, judged by his voice. Quite an old age for a witch.  
"I'm Paige Matthews," she answered kindly.  
The man next to her sighed: "You shouldn't tell that too loud... If even one of the Charmed Ones is caught in here... someone might start to panic... even I'm on the way to do so..."  
"Me too," Paige said.  
"I have to tell you something which will make you worry a little more," Nicki remarked with a low voice.  
"And what?" Paige asked.  
"I was at the magic school when I got caught!"

°°°°°°°°°°

"Wait Chris... step by step... that doesn't make sense... Your brother can't have send you a message from the future through this book," Leo said trying to understand everything that his son was telling him.  
"But the message is written by him, it's his handwriting," Chris remarked.  
Leo nodded: "And? He was here, you remember... He could have written it while he was here in the attic... he surely had more then one chance to do it..."  
Chris frowned, then nodded: "Yeah... that's true..."  
"O.k., doesn't matter when he wrote this, what does it mean?" Phoebe said, pointing at the small lines again.  
Leo read the text. Then he rose an eyebrow: "No idea!" Chris sighed.  
At that moment Bianca shimmered in. "Hey," she said.  
Chris went over and hugged her. Then he looked very angryly at her: "What are you doing here? This is too dangerous, someone is..."  
She put her finger on his lips to stop him: "I'm not a witch honey."  
Chris sighed: "Yes, but who knows if witches and whitelighters are all what they wanna catch..."  
He made a pause and looked at her with love and sorrow. Then, he whispered: "I'm just afraid of losing you."  
Bianca felt so sick, but she knew she couldn't tell him, not at that moment. There were bigger problems than hers. But she was afraid that he could notice her feelings. So she freed herself from his hug and went over to Leo.  
"Leo, Piper is afraid because of Wyatt. He has just orbed inside the magic school. What if he orbs home to his toys or to you? He could be caught then," she explained.  
Leo nodded, then he said: "Whatever it is, it has Paige."  
"What?" the Phoenix yelled, half surprised, half full of fear.  
"I think the best we can do is taking the book and go all to the school, there we should be safe," Phoebe suggested.  
Bianca nodded: "I'll shimmer us all."

°°°°°°°°°°

Piper had a talk with the other teachers and staff of the magic school. There were not many, but the Elders had sent them some helpers.  
After a discussion whether the danger was big enough and whether they should send the pupils back home or not, they decided to bring the pupils home. The Magic School was always protected but Belthazor, if it was him, knew a lot about it. Too much. They had to send the students home and hope that they didn't get caught. Everyone had the order of not using magic or orbing or something else.  
All the teachers and students except Tom, Steve and Nicki were brought home through the secret hallways of the school.  
The three friends, who fought with the Charmed Ones side by side, decided to stay. Nicki sat down in the big hall, while Tom was talking to Piper, trying to convince her that they could help.  
Steve stared at Nicki. She was absorbed by her thoughts, staring at the floor. Her brown hair fell on her face and covered her brown eyes. Steve was just fascinated by her. After the big fight a few months before, he and Nicki had become closer. He was always by her side, trying to protect her. Even his friend Tom made fun about his "obsessive" behaviour, but he knew that Steve was in love.  
Steve stepped next to her, touching her shoulder. "Are you ok?"  
She raised her head.  
He saw her eyes, her expression, and shivered deep down inside. This feeling, this moment was there just for a tiny second.  
Then she smiled and said. "Yeah."  
'What the hell was that?' He asked himself. 'Her eyes seemed so empty, so frozen and... abandoned. Just as if she wasn't herself. What did that mean? She was not o.k... No, not at all...'  
He wondered about this "look" but was interrupted by Piper.  
"God damn it! TOM!" The accosted one jerked. "You can help, but please, please shut up!" Tom grinned and saluted. "Yes ma'am."  
Piper smiled then again. She and Tom stood closely to Steve and Nicki, but didn't notice any of them.  
Suddenly they saw the air around them shivering. "What is that?" Piper asked, her hands ready to blow the 'incoming whatever' up. She pushed Tom to Steve and Nicki and stood in front of them. Ready to shoot.  
After some seconds Phoebe, Leo, Bianca and Chris appeared.  
"What the hell...?" Tom began but was interrupted by Chris.  
"Bianca, are you ok!"  
"Yeah... It's just a little too much." She looked to Piper, who knew what was going on. Chris watched her closely, questioningly. "I'm o.k., honey. Just too many people to shimmer."  
"But it never was a problem before."  
"It's just, I was careful that we didn't get caught o.k.? Don't worry," she avoided.  
"Where's Paige?" Piper asked, fearing the answer.  
"Away," Phoebe replied seriously.  
"Away?"  
"Away like the other 27... That's why we came here."  
Piper didn't know what to say. Then she noticed that Bianca was still pale. She frowned, she had to do something... something for her.  
Phoebe had noticed the Phoenix too... She felt that there was something wrong, but then Piper took over her mind.  
The oldest sister touched her womb and closed her eyes: "Oho... I think I need a little rest. Come on, Bianca, sweetie. Could you take me to your room? I just want to lie down a little." She nodded.  
Chris jumped to his mother: "Are you o.k.?"  
"Yes, don't worry I'm only a little tired," she lied to him. "Come on guys... While I sleep a moment with the girl watching over me, you all go on and try to find something... I want results when I'm back," she ordered then, and walked out with the Phoenix.

°°°°°°°°°°

"Are you o.k.?" Bianca asked after she closed the door.  
"Yes I am, but I thought you're not, right?" Piper answered sitting down on a chair.  
The Phoenix nodded and lay down on the sofa, looking really bad now.  
"How far... I mean, in which week...?"  
"Third or fourth week, I'm not sure," Bianca added.  
Piper frowned, that was very early: "But you are sure that you are pregnant?... I mean..."  
"Yes," the Phoenix interrupted her, "I can feel it... We feel the unborn when we are pregnant."  
Piper nodded. Then she added: "Take a little rest honey. You have to take care of yourself now." Bianca started to cry again.

°°°°°°°°°°

Chris started to wander along and across the hall: "This is not good. Mom is feeling ill, and it's for me. My fault. And this is not the best time for this!"  
Leo went to his son and stopped him, placing his kind hand on his shoulder: "Don't worry, son. She's o.k... Believe me, I was there when she was pregnant with Wyatt... That's what happens to women when they're pregnant." He smiled: "I know it's scary sometimes, but she's o.k.. Only a bit sick. O.k.?"  
Chris nodded, not completely convinced.

°°°°°°°°°°

At the same time, Phoebe was talking lively to the teens, cheering them up: "Well, it seems the x-men get into action again!" she laughed.  
Tom smiled broadly: "Yeah... Let's get rid of that Magnetozor forever and ever." Steve laughed, but Nicki just grinned in a weird way.  
"Well," said Phoebe, seeing how his nephew and Leo came to join them again, and started to go through the pages of the book, "let's try to guess what your nice brother meant by this, right?"  
The two men sighed and nodded at the same time, as Phoebe rolled her eyes: "Like father like son..."  
At that moment, little Wyatt orbed in again.  
"What the hell are you doing here, little man?" Phoebe asked, terrified: "You shouldn't be orbing that way! Didn't your mommy told you?"  
Chris knelt down, next to his brother, as they heard a voice.  
"Wyatt Matthew Halliwell, what did Piper tell you?" it was Cole, who had come running, out of air.  
All the heads turned to him.  
"I'm sorry..." he gasped, "I... I tried that thing of the whole name but it seems little warrior wants to take part in the action..."  
Chris chuckled: "Listen to me, brother... You have to be a good boy now. Good boy. You won't orb, right? NO orb..." he remarked kindly, before Leo's proud look.  
"No ob." Wyatt repeated.  
Cole turned to the teens when he noticed they were there. "Hey, it seems you didn't get that break, after all," he smiled at Nicki.  
She frowned, but the ex-demon didn't notice: "Was the book useful for you?"  
"That's it..." continued Chris, "no orb. Because the bad guys will come and take you, and you won't see me, or mom, or dad, or the aunts, and uncle Cole, anymore. Right?"  
Wyatt nodded seriously.  
"So what I said? No...?"  
"What book?" Nicki asked.  
"Well... The... book. The one you were looking for. That for... explaining the history..." he stopped, "the spells about turning days into night."  
"No ob..." Wyatt repeated.  
Chris nodded and smiled: "Very good, brother."  
He stroked his hair as he giggled: "And now, go with uncle Cole, and obey him."  
"Oh!" Nicki seemed to realise: "Yeah... That book. Yes it was useful. Thanks."  
Cole raised an eyebrow: "Yeah, I hope it was..." 'Because that wasn't the book you took,' he added in his mind. That was very weird.  
But at that very moment, Wyatt was taking his hand, and pulling it to him: "Unke Co, C'mon"  
Cole turned to him: "Ok..." He sighed: "Let's go... It seems the big guys don't need us!"  
He winked at Nicki, but she didn't realise. It was as if she had forgotten everything about the previous conversation. Weird... very weird.  
Then, they went out: "And sorry for the interruption!"  
Leo was submerged in the book, and Wyatt's note, and now Chris had joined him.  
Phoebe took a pile of books and placed them next to the teens: "well, I guess we could start with this. And... Steve? Do you know how to scry? With a map? Please, do it with this pen. It's Paige's. Maybe if we find her, we'll find the others."

°°°°°°°°°°

"So, Nicki... Why don't you illustrate us about what happened at the school? How did it take you?" asked Paige.  
"Did you feel or see anything before getting here?" the girl asked.  
"No, I didn't," the Charmed One shook her head.  
"Well, then you know exactly the same thing as I know... Sorry. I was just going from the library to the class, with the book I had just picked up, and the next thing I remember is I was here..."  
Paige sighed. "So we're here..." she murmured, "and we don't have much to begin with." ... "But it cannot be Belthazor if he got to the school," she realised suddenly, "Your spell banned him from there."  
Nicki nodded: "Yeah, that's a point. But I wouldn't forget about him, anyway... Who knows what he can have done to get there. To get to you..."  
Paige made a short break, again trying to see something. But it seems there was no light, not even a little one... It was completely dark.  
"Are there any other ones from the school?" Paige asked the girl then.  
"No, not that I know," Nicki answered.  
"That's mysterious... There are so many witches... why don't they take more from there?"  
"Maybe the others already noticed that I'm missing... And so they sent the kids home?" Nicki suggested.  
"Yeah, that's possible."  
"Anyway, we are here," Derrick remarked, "any idea how we can get out?"  
Paige and Nicki sighed.

°°°°°°°°°°

Phoebe walked to Bianca's room. The men were busy understanding Wyatt's hints, and the kids were looking up the other books, so she thought it was time to have a serious talk with her sister.  
She knocked.  
It took a moment till Piper answered.  
When Phoebe went in, her sister was lying on the sofa. Bianca wasn't at sight.  
"How do you feel," Phoebe asked.  
"Better... thank you."  
Phoebe grinned evilly: "Oh, come on girl, you never felt that bad today... Forgotten? I'm an empath." She was focusing on her sister angrily.  
Piper sighed: "Believe me, it is not what it seems, it's..."  
"Not what it seems, ha?" Phoebe yelled. "You scared your son, and Leo too. So why the hell..."  
She stopped. At that moment Bianca went in from the bathroom. Her face was still covered with tears. And all of a sudden Phoebe felt again that something was wrong with her. And then she knew what was going on, that the Phoenix was pregnant, too... and she felt her fear.  
Even though she didn't understand why she was afraid, she knew what she had to do right away. So she went over and hugged her silently.

_

* * *

(Chapter 2 written by Chrissy.W.x, Belén and Dark Angel) _


	3. Chapter 3

**A Charmed Story - Part Three:  
Double Demons  
Chapter 3**

"Damn it!" Chris swore and started to walk around, while Leo was browsing through the book again.  
"Take a rest son, I think the solution of that riddle is easy... We might just be thinking too hard." Chris nodded, but was still a little angry.  
"That's interesting," Leo remarked, then.  
"What?" Chris asked, and went closer again.  
"I found four more entries like that little one. Each of them seems to be a little riddle."  
"Could they help us to solve the first one?"  
"I don't think so... I believe your brother wanted to give us some hints to solve some future problems, but he must have also thought that it could change too much, if he simply told us... That's why he made those riddles, I think. Everyone is dealing with another problem."  
Chris nodded. He only wished the riddles were much easier to understand.  
After a while of hard-thinking, Chris frowned: "And what if they're not exactly 'riddles' as such, dad?"  
"Well, I don't know what else they can be, son, unless your brother speaks another language or uses symbols..." Leo joked.  
"No..." Chris interrupted him, impatient: "I mean... well, if he knows all those things he wrote there, it's because in his future we solved them... Without any help, I mean..."  
Leo followed his speech thoughtful: "Yeah... "  
"If he just tells us how to defeat them, he'd change the moment in which it happened, or the way..."  
"Yeah, well, that's exactly what I told you, I don't know what you want to..."  
"Wait, wait..." Chris hushed him, as he approached the book, and looked for the page in which the first 'riddle' was. "If he just wrote a riddle that we need to solve he would be changing things anyway... Just delaying the moment we would realise, but the solution would give us enough clues about how to change something before it meant to be changed."  
This time, Leo raised his eyebrow, not following his reasoning anymore.  
"Just think about this, dad!" Chris continued, "A shirt dirty with ice-cream, and grass? Is that a riddle? Or a clue? Well, ok... it's a clue... but not in the way we thought."  
"Please, Chris, just go to the point..." Leo said, sighing.  
"I think, that Wyatt was telling us ex-act-ly the moment in which it'd happen. There must be a shirt dirty with ice cream and grass involved in the vanquishing of Belthazor, or some 'double' demon."  
Leo frowned: "And he was telling that it was easy for us to vanquish him?"  
"Yeah, he was mixing those elements just for us to pay attention to them when they came. To be 'prepared'."  
Leo shook his head. "But I still believe that this shirt will play a bigger part in the vanquishing."  
Chris shrugged: "Yes, probably. But that's not what Wyatt said. Wyatt is saying: 'When you see, hear or whatever you do, something related to a shirt dirty with ice-cream and grass, pay attention. It'll be easy to vanquish a double-demon. But... YOU have to find the way'."  
"Are you sure?"  
"Almost... Look, what I think is that whatever this shirt is, it, the shirt itself, is gonna give us the true clue, what we need to kill the demon. Belthazor. I guess Wyatt was just making sure that we pay attention to the elements he knew would help us in the future."  
"And the future consequences? Because I think they're still involved."  
Chris sighed, desperate: "No, don't you see it? Dad... this is exactly what we 'did' in his future. We took into account that shirt, or whatever it is. I'm sure we'll discover all in good time. He just wanted us not to worry, and well, I'm sure he didn't want us to take the wrong decisions this time. He didn't mean to change his future... What he was trying was just the contrary, dad... He wanted it to be exactly the same! Maybe he was afraid his visit could already have changed something... That's why he made sure that we DO what we actually DID in his future."  
Leo nodded pensive. "Yes, it makes sense, after all..." Chris smiled, relieved.  
"Can I help you?" it was Nicki's voice.  
None of them had realised she was there, observing and listening to their conversation.

°°°°°°°°°°

Paige held her head in her hands... She was thinking hard about their situation, but there was no clue in it... None of that made sense... nothing of it. Why were they imprisoned in that cave? It was large, maybe 15 x 15 meters... Paige had talked to everyone she could find on her way through the cave. Now she was again sitting next to Nicki. "There are only witches here," she remarked, but more to herself.  
"What do you mean?" Nicki asked.  
"There are 29 witches disappeared, including you and me. But there are also 3, or maybe more by now, missing whitelighters" she explained to the girl.  
"But who can catch a whitelighter?"  
"I don't know," Paige answered with a helpless voice.  
Suddenly there was a green light in the middle of the cave.  
"What's that?" Paige asked surprised.  
"Seems another witch is joining us," Nicki answered.  
Seconds later they saw a girl in the light, then everything was dark again, they only heard a noise of a body falling down.  
"That was Sarah, from one of my classes," Nicki remarked, "I'll bring her here. Don't move." Paige felt that she was going away.  
A few minutes later, her voice was back next to her: "I have her."  
"Is she alright?" Paige asked.  
"I think so."  
"Nicki?" the girl asked gaining back her conscious.  
"Yeah, I'm here, and Paige Matthews, too," she answered.  
"But how can you be here? I've seen you just a few minutes ago."  
"Where have you seen her?" Paige asked.  
"At the school, just before you sent us all home," the girl answered.

°°°°°°°°°°

Leo and Chris were discussing something with Nicki when Phoebe returned.  
"Where have you been?" Chris asked.  
"I was looking after Piper," she answered. She looked very worried so Leo and Chris went closer.  
"Is everything alright?" Leo asked.  
It took a moment until she realised that he was speaking to her. She was frowning. Her mind was turning around Bianca.  
But then she looked up and smiled: "Oh... Oh yes, she's already feeling better... She only needed a little rest." As she noticed that the two men were looking at her with suspicion, she added: "Have you found something?"  
"Phoebe..." Chris started to say.  
But Leo cut him off, after he saw the weird look that Phoebe gave him: "Yes... Well, not exactly... But we were discussing about the riddle. And we think we need to pay attention to what happens. Chris says that Wyatt must have tried to warn us that when something related to a shirt dirty with ice-cream and grass happens, we'll find the solution."  
"...as we probably did in Wyatt's future," finished Chris.  
Nicki nodded pensive.  
"Well, it seems we'll have to wait," she said, with a smile.  
Tom and Steve were completely absorbed by the riddles they've been given and the other books.

°°°°°°°°°°

Nicki looked shocked: "Really? I mean... That's not possible... I didn't even know that you all had been send home... well I thought that... and, I know now... But I wasn't there when they did."  
Paige nodded, pensive: "Something's wrong here..."  
Sarah didn't understand a single thing: "Nicki, it was... it was you. I'd swear it was you! Well, actually you had left before to get a book from the library, but you didn't have it when..." she frowned.  
"When I was back?"  
Sarah nodded: "Yeah..."  
"Well, right after getting it, I... the next thing I remember is that I was here!" she explained.  
"Someone is pretending to be you, and that someone is doing this to be near us, surely... But how was this person able to enter the magic school? It's protected against every demonic thing..."  
"What about a witch?" Nicki suggested.  
"What?" Paige thought she hadn't heard well.  
"A witch... Someone who can actually enter the school without being noticed. And of course, someone willing to betray any of us..." Nicki concluded.

°°°°°°°°°°

Cole walked to the library thoughtful, carrying little Wyatt on his arms. There was something very weird about Nicki...  
When he was getting to the door, he spotted the green and brown book opened on the floor, a few steps away from the entrance, on the other direction.  
He approached and took it with a hand, holding Wyatt with his other arm. He read the title: 'The Magical History of a Very Special School', by Gideon. Cole frowned as he read the name of the author. But his worries were others. What the hell had happened there? He thought he should keep it and give it to Phoebe when Nicki wasn't around. Perhaps, she could have a premonition...  
Wyatt yawned.  
"Hey, little warrior... Are you tired?" he asked, smiling, but still pensive. "Good..." he went on in a low voice, "Let's have a rest now..."  
He went to the sofa and placed the boy there. Then he covered him with his own jacket, and sat near him, watching how he fell asleep, and at the same time thinking about the book, which rested on his lap. He scratched his chin... Then, he decided to open the book before giving it to Phoebe. The fact that it was Gideon's distressed him a lot...

°°°°°°°°°°

"O.k. I think I'll go to the underworld," Chris said suddenly.  
"What?" the others exclaimed surprised.  
Chris rolled his eyes: "We're not going any further, right? And I still have some friends down there, so maybe I can find something out."  
"No son, that's a really bad idea!" Leo yelled.  
"But dad..."  
"No, it's too dangerous to orb."  
"I'll shimmer... or better Bianca will... she..."  
"No!" Phoebe interrupted him a bit too loud, "she will not shimmer you!"  
Chris looked at his aunt with narrowed eyes: "Phoebe what the hell is going on here?" He felt that there was something she wouldn't tell him.  
"I can't explain that to you... I..."  
"O.k., so I'll go to my love now and ask her to shimmer me," Chris said with a smile but Phoebe grasped his arm.  
"Please, don't ask her this," she said nearly pleading.  
Chris sighed: "O.k., aunt Phoebe, what's going on here... And no 'I can't'... and no lies!"  
Phoebe looked to Leo, who was observing her. She felt helpless. Damn it... Why did she always have to stick her nose into other people's business? Damn it!  
Chris tried to look her in the eyes, but she looked down to the ground.  
She knew she wouldn't be able to stand his look. She needed a way out of this. But then, she had an idea.  
"I had a premonition, that's why I'm begging you to stay," she said slowly.  
Chris sighed: "O.k... I don't believe you at all... but... o.k."  
He went to the table, grasped another book and sat down frustrated.  
Phoebe sighed too. Leo went a little closer to her. "What's going on here, Phoebe?" he whispered.  
She looked at him with sad eyes: "Don't ask me, please. Just believe me that it has nothing to do with our current problem, o.k.?"  
Leo nodded: "O.k."  
Meanwhile Steve whispered to Nicki: "What do you think is going on there?"  
But she didn't answer, she just observed the scene.  
"Nicki?" he asked again.  
Slowly she turned her face to him, she had a weird look for a moment, but then, she smiled again: "What?"  
Steve frowned. "Nothing, nothing important," he said and turned his head to the book on his lab again, thinking hard about that weird behaviour of his friend.  
"Phoebe!" That was Cole's voice. Seconds later he entered the room.  
"What's going on?" Leo asked.  
"Ah... nothing," he replied and turned to Phoebe, "I need your help... if you have a little moment."  
She nodded, then turned to Leo: "You don't need me this moment, right?... So I'll be back in a few minutes." Then she followed Cole down the hallway.  
Leo turned back to Chris: "Hey come on, I think she didn't lie..."  
"She did, dad," Chris answered and stood up again.  
"What makes you so sure?"  
Chris smiled, but it was a sad smile: "I don't know... I only feel that there is something going on, between mom and Bianca and now her... I don't know what, but... there is something wrong."  
Leo hugged his son: "I'm sure there is nothing, we all are just a bit overworked... and don't forget Paige... That's all a little too much for your mom, and Phoebe felt that, you know that..."  
Chris nodded: "Maybe..."

°°°°°°°°°°

"I'm... sorry, Piper," Bianca muttered as she sipped from the cup of lime.  
"Why?" the alluded one turned in surprise.  
Bianca sighed and leaned her head on a cushion: "For worrying you about my own problems when you have more important things to deal with."  
Piper smiled at her. "Sweetie... These are also my problems, remember?" she replied, touching her own womb. "That little child you're bearing is also the child of the one I bear - in a way, so... it is my problem."  
Bianca smiled grateful: "Yeah, but... your sister's missing, and that's worrying enough for your... state."  
Piper rolled her eyes: "Of course it is... But don't forget that if I'm here it's just because my husband and THIS child," she pointed to her womb, "wouldn't let me do anything else. Even if you hadn't needed somebody... I would have had to stay back, with Cole, and Wyatt... So look at this in a different way. You are helping me to forget my own worries."  
Bianca looked away. Then she said: "She's fine, Piper. I know she is... Paige is a wonderful woman, very strong and brave. I... I think that it's even good that she's there, wherever she is, with the others. She'll keep their hopes up and won't let anything happen to any of those witches and whitelighters..."  
Piper smiled weakly: "She's just my little child, you know?" Her eyes turned glassy, and at that point Bianca regretted having talked to her about Paige.  
"But she's the best of us when things turn bad..."  
Bianca nodded.

°°°°°°°°°°

"What's wrong, Cole?" asked Phoebe.  
"I'm not sure..." he scratched his hair. Wyatt was deeply asleep on the sofa, and he had been taking a glance at the book. Gideon had written it, but there was no mention to that prison and all the traps and enigmas they had found when Belthazor attacked them the last time.  
However, he couldn't find anything really important on it, so he decided to go to Phoebe for the premonition.  
The witch looked at the book wonderingly. "Do you want now a whole lesson on the history of this place, Cole?" she raised an eyebrow, a little bit annoyed.  
"Come on, Phoebe, don't be mean..." He looked really serious: "I've got a bad feeling. This book... Before we sent all the children to their homes, Nicki came here to get this book. But then, when I was looking for Wyatt, and saw Nicki, she didn't remember the book at all. What is more... I gave her the wrong topic, and she just admitted that this was the book she had finally taken! But then, I come here, and I find the book, the one that she really took, on the floor... She didn't mention having lost it, or something. She behaves in a weird way, Phoebe... I think there's some spell involved, some kind of magic... I don't know."  
"And what do you want me to do?" Phoebe asked not sure if she really got his point.  
"Just try to have a premonition."  
"I can't force premonitions, if they don't come on their own, I..."  
"Just place your hand on the book. And let's see if it works!"  
Phoebe sighed, and did what she was told.

°°°°°°°°°°

Chris had sat down with the teens, helpless.  
"Can I take a look at those books, please, Tom?" he asked.  
"Yeah, of course," he handed the book to him.  
Chris started to flip through the pages, not really reading or looking at them, just thinking. "Have any of you... solved something about those riddles?"  
Nicki shook her head, slowly, and Steve said: "They're not the typical riddles Mr. Halliwell. They're more like... jokes." He blushed. "Not that I mean that your brother would just be playing or something..."  
Chris sighed: "Hey, don't worry... It's the same I thought when I saw the first one... But my brother is like that. I think he's somehow playing with us..."  
"Look at this one," said Tom, "this was next to the entry about the Phoenixes." Chris frowned and read.  
_"Not all birds are reborn, but one is. And one is, that is not bird at all."  
_Chris chuckled. These were all jokes... At that moment he realised he shouldn't be worrying about that anymore. Wyatt was just... leaving some souvenirs from his visit to the past. Nothing relevant at that moment. He decided to forget all his previous theories, because this time, this riddle or joke, was very clear.  
The bird who is reborn, the Phoenix, was Bianca, of course. Two Biancas in the same timeline... So she was reborn, technically. And the one who is reborn, but not bird at all, well... That was himself, Chris.  
"Dad... I guess we'd better forget about the riddles...We should focus on other things, like... trying to find aunt Paige. If we find her we'll find the others. By the way... someone tried to scry for her?" he asked, looking at the teens.  
"Yeah, I tried to," Steve said, "but I can't find her."  
Chris nodded. He already knew his answer. If he, an Elder, wasn't able to locate her, how would a young witch around 18 be able to do so.  
"Suddenly he had to smile about that... A young witch around 18... and he the Elder, even he was only a few years older.  
It was still not easy for him to be an Elder, but it was getting better and better, day by day. He began to get used to it... slowly. But he had still some problems to deal with that great responsibility.  
"O.k." he sighed again and went over to Leo, "Dad, we're still not getting any further... we have to do something!"  
Leo nodded: "But what?"  
Chris frowned; then, he looked up to him: "I think we..."  
"Hey, boys!" that was Phoebe who was just entering again. Her voice sounded weird in a way.  
"Everything alright with Cole and Wyatt?" Leo asked.  
"Yes, yes," she answered smiling. She went over to them and had a short look on the book. Meanwhile she put a little sheet of paper next to it and winked to Leo.  
Then she turned around to the kids: "Hey, have you tried to scry for her?"  
Steve nodded: "But without result."  
"Have you tried to do it all together?"...  
While Phoebe was taking over the attention of the young witches, Chris opened secretly the little folded paper. Both men read it.  
_"Don't trust THIS Nicki!"_

_

* * *

(Chapter 3 written by Chrissy.W.x and Belén)_


	4. Chapter 4

**A Charmed Story - Part Three:  
Double Demons  
Chapter 4**

"The problem is that I can't get out of this place," Piper said after a while. "If I could, I could try to... well.. I don't know..."  
Bianca smiled weakly: "You can't do anything... I can't do anything. God, I wish that this had never happened." She cried again.  
Piper hugged her: "No, no... stop thinking like that!"  
"But..." the Phoenix sobbed.  
"No buts... this child is a gift... And it's something very special... Look... I think that maybe it's the first time that there is a child of a good and... well... I think you know what I mean, right...?" She nodded.  
"Maybe that's why the other Phoenixes are so worried about it," Piper suggested. Bianca didn't answer. She was just crying.  
"Maybe I should talk to Leo... I mean, if he asks the Elders maybe..."  
"No!" Bianca rose, "don't tell him... there are already too many people who know this! And I'm sure Chris will find out about it, when we tell him... I'm sure."

°°°°°°°°°°

Paige was still thinking about what Nicki had said before. A witch.. an evil witch... Yeah, why not... But... Who should want to go after the Charmed Ones...? There had never been a witch trying to fight against them before...only demons and other bad creatures.  
Meanwhile Nicki was trying to cheer up Sarah. That little girl was full of fear.  
"Did you see anything before you got here?" Paige asked her then. "I mean, was there anything that could help us to find our who brought us here?"  
"No," Sarah said then. "Nothing that I remember."  
Paige sighed: "O.k., there are a few questions to answer now. First: Where are we exactly? Second: Who brought us here? Third: Why did he or she do that? Fourth: Who is in the magic school in your place, Nicki, and is this the same person that brought us here? And fifth: Where are the whitelighters?"  
"All good questions, Mrs. Matthews, if they had an answer which we could reach..." Nicki sighed. "Where are we exactly? No idea... The Underworld? Well, too out of fashion..."  
Paige chuckled: "Well, there are not many places to be in, where my family can't sense us, scry for us, hell... find us!"  
"Yeah, I know... This has to be the Underworld. Just kidding... Then, second question: Who brought us here? Well, if it's the Underworld... Demons, probably. Warlocks, perhaps... Don't know. Any evil creature."  
Paige nodded, pensive, as Sarah kept silent, listening to them.  
"Thirdly... Who's the one pretending to be me... And I swear that if I face her some day..." she clenched her fist, angrily, "o.k. ... And as for that, there's another question... Why ME?"  
"Because you were alone at the time they caught you? Maybe... Just guessing," Paige answered.  
Nicki shrugged: "No idea, but I don't think she was the same person that trapped us. I mean... there must be more than ONE person, you know? They're a team. Otherwise, they wouldn't have got so many... witches."  
"Yeah... You must be right. So, more than ONE demon... Probably more than 10. A horde..."  
Sarah adopted a very scared countenance. Everyone noticed her tension.  
"Oh, honey, calm down, sweetie..." Paige added immediately, "you'll get used to my weird sense of humour. It tends to work even better in extreme situations..."  
Nicki smiled and stroked Sarah's hair. "Don't worry, you're with the best ones now," she said. And then she went on: "Ok, as for the whitelighters... Killing them, has sense for demons. Keeping them trapped, away from witches... No way. So Mrs. Matthews... What if we're wrong from the very beginning?"  
The Charmed One frowned: "What are you thinking about, Nicki?"  
The girl shrugged again: "Only that we shouldn't dismiss any idea... that's all. Analyse it this way: Demons can't actually enter the magic school. Then, how the hell was I caught, and how's that other person inside? To top it all... If no demon can enter, Belthazor even less. We cast that special spell on him. So, we guessed, that this girl pretending to be me is another witch, the only one capable of entering the school."  
Paige nodded, as she continued her explanation.  
"Well, together with Elders an whitelighters..." she smiled in a weird way, and made a pause.  
"But whitelighters are also disappearing... "  
"Yeah, that's it. They're disappearing, but they're not dead, as far as we know. Above all because the only way to kill them is a darklighter arrow. They'd be out there, somewhere, dead."  
"Well, that doesn't mean that they're not dead... Their bodies could be taken away, or something..."  
"Yeah, but what I mean is that we shouldn't restrict our thoughts to the supposition that it was demons that are doing this... or at least... only demons. Only witches, whitelighters and Elders can enter the school... Witches and whitelighters are missing... And you've said that... There are not many places where your family can't find us. The Underworld and..."  
Paige looked at her in shock: "No, no, no... That's not possible, Leo and Chris are..."  
"I'm not saying anything, Mrs. Matthews. But even though I didn't like Gideon either, you should know that before you and your family came into the school... there were already many who supported him..." They all kept sielent for a while.  
"But... why?" Sarah asked then, very pale.

°°°°°°°°°°

Both men turned to Nicki in awe.  
"Is everything ok?" asked Tom, looking over Phoebe's shoulder and seeing their faces.  
"Yeah, it is..." Leo answered. "Don't worry."  
"But what's that pap..." this sentence gained Tom a hit from Steve. "Ouch! "  
Chris kept silent for a moment. Then he said: "Well, maybe... we should go on searching..."  
The teen that was ahead of everyone, Steve, grabbed some books again and started to read, while the adults were looking questioningly at each other.  
"Leo, Chris, could you go to Cole? Ask him about some demons in the underworld..." Phoebe said, trying to get the men out with him. He would explain everything to them.  
Chris's eyes screamed 'NO' but Phoebe just looked at him, very strict and he gave up. Both men went to Cole.  
Phoebe watched the teens and looked through the book.  
Steve, who was more suspicious than ever before, watched Nicki closer.  
'Tom...Tom!' Tom winced, looked around confused and then met Steve's green eyes and understood.  
They were using their power, the one they shouldn't use at all... especially in context tests and teamwork. Both had an unexplainable connection. They could talk to each other in their minds, they even could see the image of each other in their mind and they needn't be in the same room at all. No one knew this, except their families who made a secret out of it and bound their powers during the time at school.  
'It works?' Tom asked surprised, pretending to read.  
'Yeah. I don't know why... maybe mom thought that we might need them.'  
'Always loved ya mom.'  
Steve could feel his friend's smile, yeah he even could see it in his mind. 'Shut up. You always loved her, when she cooked for you.'  
Tom's answer was a short: 'Yap.'  
'Look. There's something wrong, very wrong...'  
Before he could go on: 'NO! Look at this, Steven Moody figured THAT out... all alone?'  
'Stop the sarcasm, moron. I mean with Nicki... didn't you see it? She behaved very weird during the last hours. And even worse. When she looked into my eyes it was...' he shivered again, remembering it.  
'What? You're crazy.'  
'No! Look.' Steve closed his eyes, concentrated, and sent Tom his memories.  
'Whoa! That was creepy, man.'  
'Told ya.'  
'What do you think is going on? Why is she that way? What do we do?'  
'I'll try to find out.'  
"Nicki?" She looked up.  
Steve went next to her and hugged her. "Don't worry. I know how you feel..."  
She gave him a puzzled look.  
"You remember the days where you were trapped yourself, mistreated by some stupid humans, unable to defend yourself." He said it sincerely, with tears in his eyes.  
Nicki switched fast. Tears came up.  
"Yeah. Thank you," she hugged back and Steve smiled sadly at Tom.  
'That never happened...'  
'What should we do? This is clearly NOT Nicki.'  
They let go and went on reading.  
Phoebe looked at the scene, very surprised. 'Didn't know that the girl went through such terrible things...' But after she saw the smile, she frowned. 'What the hell was that?'  
Her empathy started up and somehow she broke into their conversation.  
'They know it!' she thought horrified and surprised. 'How was I able to break into... whatever that was, it!'  
'Mrs. Halliwell?' That was Steve's astonished voice.  
'Steve?'  
'Mrs. Halliwell?'  
Both looked at each other, while Tom's head flew from Steve to Phoebe and back to his friend.  
'You can hear us?'  
'Yeah, what's happening?'  
'It's our power. We can talk to each other in our minds, but we never knew that we could talk to others...'  
'Wow, that's... unbelievable.'  
After some silence: 'So you know that Nicki is not what she seems?'  
'Yeah, but how did you find that out, Phoebe? Ehmm.. Mrs. Halliwell.' Tom just listened to the conversation and stared at Nicki.  
'Call me Phoebe... I had a premonition. And that wasn't good at all.'  
'What should we do?' the thought was helpless and sad.  
'Now, everyone knows that she's... false. Chris and Leo will tell Piper and Bianca and we have to find a way, to get her out of line. We don't need her here.'  
'I'll do it, I'll find a way.' Steve said bravely.  
'No, it's too dangerous. We don't know who she is or what she has to do with all of this.'  
'No, I'll do it, but wait, maybe I have some clues. Watch.' He sent her the pics.  
Then he stood up. "Nicki? Can I talk to you for a sec."  
She nodded and both teens went out, before Phoebe could say a word against it.  
"Oh no..."  
"Don't worry Mrs... Phoebe." Tom stood next to her now and was audacious enough to caress her back. "Let's go with the others."

°°°°°°°°°°

"That's unbelievable," Leo said after they had listen to the explanation of Cole.  
"But that's exactly what happened... That girl isn't Nicki."  
"But who is she?" Leo asked.  
"I think the question must be: who could she be?... I mean... she can't be a demon or even Belthazor, they can't enter the school."  
Leo nodded.  
"And who can enter the school?" Cole asked.  
Chris frowned: "Except you and Bianca who are "invited" to stay here... there are only witches, whitelighters and Elders as far as I remember."  
Leo sighed: "That means we're again fighting against the good instead of the evil, or what?"  
"It seems so, dad."  
"No, not absolutely..." Cole remarked. Leo looked at him waiting for an explanation. "Look, when I was a demon, there were also a few really bad witches down there!" Cole explained.  
"Right," Chris rose his head, "the dark witches."  
Cole looked at his nephew: "You know them?"  
"Met a few of them in my time," he answered.  
Leo rose his hands: "Stop, stop, stop! If those witches were involved the Elders would know it..."  
Cole frowned: "Oh man... Don't tell me that you are also with them?" Leo sighed.  
"Any idea what we can do now?" Chris asked.

°°°°°°°°°°

When Piper came back from the toilette, Bianca was lying on the sofa touching her womb softly. When she heard the witch she looked up.  
"Everything alright?" Piper asked. Bianca nodded.  
"Can I ask you something?" Piper went on. "You told me that you're feeling that you're pregnant... So what is it exactly what you feel?"  
The Phoenix sighed: "I feel that there is something inside. I feel it's life. It's hard to describe... You know it's just that you feel you're not alone." Piper nodded.  
"And I feel if everything's alright, or not," she added.  
"And? Is everything alright?" Piper asked a little afraid of the answer.  
But Bianca just nodded. "If I could only..." she sobbed.  
"I know honey, I know," Piper hugged her lovingly.

°°°°°°°°°°

Paige was still frowning... the idea that there are witches and Elders involved in all that, wasn't funny. But it seemed to be the most possible idea they had had the last minutes.  
"What can we do with that knowledge?" Nicki asked still hugging little Sarah.  
At that moment Derrick went closer again: "I've talked to a lot of them here, but no one knows more about how they came here."  
Paige sighed: "What we need is a good idea. A very good one."

°°°°°°°°°°

Chris was about to say something when Phoebe and Tom went in. "Where are Steve and the girl?" he asked.  
"Don't worry, Steve is taking her attention away from us," Tom explained.  
"Any ideas about what we can do now?" Phoebe asked.  
"I was just about to say something, when you went in," Chris said with a weak smile, "I thought about a bait... I mean... what we need is a spell to stay on the trace of someone...Like a homing beacon... We cast it on me, and I'll go out and let them catch me. And if the spell works you'll be hopefully able to find me and all the others..."  
Leo frowned: "That's too dangerous... and you're also an Elder, so maybe they won't catch you."  
"So I'll do that," Tom said determined.  
"No," Phoebe said, "if it's dangerous for him, then it's even more for you... we can't let you do that."  
"You can... we need to go on with this right?" he replied. "And if the spell doesn't work, maybe Steve can find me because of our connection!"  
"What connection?" Chris asked.

°°°°°°°°°°

Steve and Nicki were in another room, far away from the others.  
"What is it, Steven?"  
'Another proof. She never calls me Steven,' he thought sad.  
She prodded him to gain his attention. "What?"  
"Ehmm"... 'Come on Stevie-boy... Think!'... "I might have an idea about how we can find them." She raised her eyebrows.  
'Don't say anything wrong now'... "You could make a spell. You're very good at spells. And they are all witches so..."  
"You really think I could do that?" she asked with an ironic undertone.  
'Oups,' hwe thought but it was too late.  
Her eyes widened and she had the empty and soulless look again.  
"Yeah, I think so." He tried not to look busted.  
She started to smile, evilly and sad at the same time. "I'm so sorry. I wished I wouldn't have to do this."  
Steve looked at her shocked while she changed in front of him. He was blended by white light, and then he suddenly saw wings.  
'An angel? Literally?' was one of his last thoughts.  
She had a white dress that reached down till her naked feet. On her dress there was a picture of a silver dragon in violet waves, which was in the region of her hips, on the left side. She had big white wings. Her hair was long and brown. All told, it was a nice picture, but when he looked into her eyes he started to shiver from all the sadness, loneliness and emptiness.  
'An ANGEL!' he cried out loud in his thoughts and sent themt with his last power to Tom.  
Then he disappeared.

°°°°°°°°°°

Piper started to laugh hysterically.  
"What?" Bianca, who didn't know yet what to do with that or what to say to Chris, was looking at Piper, as if she had lost it. The witch was sitting there and laughed. "What?"  
"I'm sorry... It's just so... weird. All this, the whole thing... I mean, two pregnant women here, locked up for their safety and the others are out there hunting something or someone powerful enough to intercept the orbing," she said, her voice getting contemplatively with every word, especially the last words were full of meaning for her.  
"Who can intercept orbing...? not Belthazor or any demon but a whitelighter... or an El... Damn it!" she stood up and raised her fists. "It's gotta be one of them!" she yelled enraged.  
Bianca pulled her gentle back. "Who?"  
"One of them. They want my baby," she cried. "I have to get Wyatt." She ran out and Bianca rushed after her.

°°°°°°°°°°

"What connection?" Chris asked again.  
"Well, me and Steve have... DAMN IT!" Tom yelled the last words out in pain.  
Everyone jumped up. "What happened?"  
Cole went to Wyatt who woke up, because of the yell and started to cry.  
"Oh baby! Mommy's here." Piper rushed in, followed by Bianca. She grabbed Wyatt and hugged him. "Shhh... I'm here. What's going on?"  
Cole, Piper and Bianca turned to Tom again.  
Phoebe and Leo looked to him too, while Chris repeated his question as he watched Bianca.  
"Steve!" Tom wanted to rush out and then stopped.  
"What's wrong with Steve?" Piper asked unaware of what happened.  
Leo sorted everything out: "Cole, go with Piper and Bianca and tell them everything..." "Everything?" was the insecure answer. Leo just nodded. The four sat down and Cole gave report.  
Phoebe caressed Tom. She felt his sadness.  
"Steve is gone," he murmured. Chris and Leo exchanged a terrified look.  
"What do you mean?" Phoebe asked softly.  
"I heard his cry."  
"Cry? I didn't..."  
Phoebe interrupted her nephew: "They can talk to each other with their minds. You heard him? What did he say?"  
"He cried out 'an Angel?' He was shocked and so scared, but at the same time so overwhelmed..."  
Phoebe frowned. "An angel?"  
"Yeah... I can't feel him. I always felt him, at least a bit, because of our power I think, but he's gone."  
"Oh no." Phoebe said. "Nicki knows it. At least she knows that he knew it... Does she know about your connection?"  
Tom shook his head.  
"That doesn't matter Phoebe, because it's not our Nicki, she has not her memories or knowledge." Her brother-in-law told her.

°°°°°°°°°°

"They'll find a way..." Paige said confidently. "Who wants to play a game?"  
She gained some laughters but didn't cheer up the situation.  
"We could need some light." Nicki closed her eyes, mumbled some words. There was a short spark, but it was swallowed by the dark.  
"Damn it. Conjured light, but it didn't work... What kind of weird cave are we in?"  
"Don't know honey. I really don't... But my sisters will find a way to set us free, don't worry."

°°°°°°°°°°

"Oh my God, that means we're not safe here anymore," Piper said and then she added more to herself: "I knew it... Damn it!"  
Bianca looked down to the ground. She was trying to avoid Chris's look. She knew he was watching her, and she didn't want him to see that she had cried. Piper took her hand and caressed it.  
"What's wrong?" Cole asked worried.  
But Piper gave him a look to shut up. Then she smiled at him: "Nothing to worry about."  
Chris was watching Bianca while Phoebe and Leo were talking. He felt that there was something going on, but... 'What was wrong with her?' He didn't understand it. But he knew that there was something. 'Maybe she felt ill...' But why didn't she tell him...  
'Oh no... if it had something to do with the time-thing...' Thousands of horrible scenes flashed his mind. 'What if there is already a problem about having two Biancas in one world... What will then happen to me, if I'm be born...'  
He shook his head... 'No, that wasn't possible.' Wyatt had told them that they were both there in his time. He sighed. 'But what was it then?'  
"Chris?" Leo asked again.  
"What?" his son answered and then added, "Sorry, I was thinking about something."

°°°°°°°°°°

Paige sighed again: "O.k... it seems that magic doesn't work here, but you created a little light. For only a second, but you did it."  
Nicki nodded, even if nobody could see it.  
"So maybe, if we all work together, we will be able to do something, even if it's only a yell for help!"  
"Yeah, that could work," Derrick replied.  
"So let's go," Paige clapped her hands, "let's bring all together!"  
But at the same second she rose, the green light appeared in the middle of the cave, again.  
"Woah!" They heard a voice. "Damn it! What the hell is going on? I swear if I get you morons I'll beat the s..."  
Nicki laughed, half happy half sad, and then yelled: "Veronica! We're here."  
"Nicki? Is that you?"  
Nicki turned to Paige, or at least she turned to the darkness where she thought Paige was sitting in and said: "I'll get her. Sarah, stay here." Paige grabbed Sarah's hand.  
After some minutes full of screams and swears, because the girls seemed to kick everyone on their way back, they sat down. "Mrs. Matthews."  
"Call me Paige."  
Nicki blushed, but no one could see that. "Paige. This is Veronica. She was at our school too."  
"Veronica? I think I heard of you. Very good witch in conjuring and potions."  
"Well. Yes. Thank you, Mrs.."  
She was interrupted: "Paige!"  
"Paige."  
"I guess it isn't necessary to ask you about how you got here, is it?" Paige sighed desperate.  
"No. Sorry."  
Derrick, who listened impatient to the conversation, brought back the topic: "But we should stick to the plan. We should collect every power in here and then... well I don't know. Do something."

°°°°°°°°°°

He fought against the darkness and it fell like he was going through a vicious ground. His body and mind hurt and he tried to remember what happened. Who he was. He panicked and fought harder.  
'Where am I? What's happening? WHO am I?'  
He started to see pictures. Slowly. One by one. He began to remember. He saw Nicki, the Charmed Ones, his best friend, the change, the angel and then darkness.  
'I'm in my mind,' he thought, surprised. 'Got to get out.'  
Then he saw a picture he didn't remember at all. A picture he had never seen. It flashed and popped up in front of his eyes. Out of the blue. He heard a terrible yell.  
Steve woke up, he opened his eyes and then realised that it was him, screaming.

_

* * *

(Chapter 4 written by Chrissy.W.x, Belén and Dark Angel)_


	5. Chapter 5

**A Charmed Story - Part Three:  
Double Demons  
Chapter 5**

"Tom. Honey, what did you see?" Piper asked, holding Wyatt in her arms.  
"See?" her sister asked.  
"Yeah Phoebe, see. The connection allows pictures as well, doesn't it?"  
Tom nodded but then answered. "I don't know. I saw light. Blinding light."  
Chris stepped next to Bianca and knelt down next to her. "I know that something is wrong. I know it," he said. "You don't have to tell me now, ok? But when this is over, you'll have to. I need to focus on Paige, so please, tell me that you're feeling ok now, and that it is nothing dangerous."  
Bianca looked at him, moved to tears by his love and his understanding, but scared, on the other hand. "We'll talk about it later. I promise. It has nothing to do with all this."  
Chris nodded, and looked away, unsure about what to do.  
This gesture hurt Bianca but the bad feeling was washed away by his soft kiss.  
"Watch out, ok?" she whispered.  
"Yeah," he answered with a weak smile, then he turned back to the others.  
"Blinding Light? In a good way or bad or...?"  
"I don't know!" Tom jumped up. "Our real Nicki is gone and now Steve!"  
"Calm down honey. I think she might be with Paige. She's a witch isn't she? And someone used that disappearances for his own personal gain. I'm sure that she's with Paige..." Piper said caressing now two little boys.  
"Ok." Leo clapped his hands. "We have to make two teams. Someone has to look after the false Nicki, what she is up to. And after Steven, while the others are looking for Paige and the other witches."  
"Wait," Piper went closer to them again, "I think you're right, about the splitting off... 'Cause I think we're fighting against two groups."  
"What do you mean?" Phoebe asked.  
"Look, if that what Steve saw, was really an angel, as he told you... Well, I can't believe that an angel would catch witches and whitelighters..."  
"Why not?" Leo asked.  
"Because angels are good, even the angel of death is "good" in a way... or even neutral... but definitely they are not evil!"  
Chris nodded: "Yeah, I think she's right... not exactly at the point that angels are not evil, but at the point of the two groups." Phoebe sighed about that comment.  
"O.k., so me and Tom will try to find Steve... Phoebe, Chris, you try to find something out about the lost witches... Piper, you and Bianca help them, o.k.?" Leo ordered.  
"I'm allowed to do something?" Piper asked with a smile. Her husband nodded.  
"No... No... O.k... Mom is o.k. but..." Chris said, and turned to Bianca. She was sitting on the ground looking down and seemed to be really sad. Chris sighed and went on: "... but let Bianca out of this... I think that's better."  
Phoebe smiled weakly at him and his dad nodded. He noticed too that there was something wrong with her. Everybody could see it now.  
"O.k., come on, Tom, let's see if we find a trace of Steve," Leo said and walked out of the library. Tom followed him.  
Chris was still looking at Bianca. He felt like shit because he knew he wasn't able to help her.  
Phoebe noticed that and put her hand on his shoulder: "Don't worry about her."  
"How could I not worry, if she is suffering that much?" he replied with a sad voice.  
"She isn't suffering, son," Piper said, "that is only sorrow. But now there are bigger problems to solve, and we have to concentrate on them, o.k.?"  
"You know it, do you?" He looked into his mother's eyes, trying to read in them.  
Piper swallowed: "Yes, I do."  
Chris sighed, then he nodded. He took an old blanket from one of the chairs and went over to his love. He knelt down and put it around her, with wet eyes. Then he kissed her softly: "Whatever it is... I know we will get trough this, honey, o.k.?"  
She nodded weakly, trying not to cry this time. She wanted to tell him everything, she wanted it so bad, but she couldn't... She couldn't tell him the truth.  
Chris turned to Cole: "Take care of her." He nodded and the young Elder went back to the witches.  
Cole got a little closer to Bianca and put his arm around her. She put her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes.  
"That's o.k., girl, try to relax a bit... Even if I don't know what's going on... I'm here, so... try to relax."  
"Thanks... thanks for everything," she whispered.  
Chris took a deep breath: "Where should we start?"  
"I think I will have look at the book again, maybe I'll find something," Phoebe said.  
"Yeah, and I will have a look at the books about the school. Maybe there is another creature capable of entering this place, other than witches, whitelighters and Elders," Piper added.  
"And what about me?" her son asked.  
"Try to sense them. Paige is half whitelighter, maybe she'll try to contact you, and maybe then you'll be able to sense her," Phoebe suggested. Chris nodded, sat down right where he was standing, and closed his eyes trying to concentrate.  
Meanwhile, Wyatt was more awaken than ever, after his short but intense siesta. He was playing alone, around his family, running and jumping and giggling, and falling down because he didn't know yet how to walk without stumbling.  
Cole and Bianca laughed as he fell down once. But Piper turned to him, worried. "Are you ok, sweetie?" she asked rushing towards the child.  
"Children fall once and again, Piper, they're made of another different material, believe me..." Cole said laughing.  
"Oh... Look at you, Wyatt..." Piper exclaimed disappointed. With the hurry that morning, she had mistaken the dirty shirt and dressed Wyatt with it. "Look at you, kid... It'll be impossible to wipe out this chocolate now... It's dried up!"  
Chris was deeply concentrated but he wasn't able to sense Paige. All the giggling, and playing, and now his mother's voice, were distracting him, but anyway, he tried to focus.  
Bianca smiled: "I'll help you with that. When I was a child, I used to spoil all the clothes, because I loved playing on the grass, and everything was yellowish at the end of the day... and let alone when I ate some sweet!"  
Chris raised his head, disturbed. He wanted to tell them 'please, go to another place to chit chat,' but he knew he shouldn't, so he kept on...  
"Nothing..." sighed Phoebe: "Only Elders, witches and whitelighters..."  
"Have you taken a look at the book Nicki was looking at?" Cole asked, concerned.  
"Which one, 'The Magical History of a Very Special School'? That's only a book of history... I don't think..."  
"Precisely," Cole cut her off.  
"Ok..." Phoebe sighed looking for the book. Then she opened it.  
"Please... I can't feel Paige. You should focus, mom..." Chris said kind of anry.  
Piper was smiling at Bianca: "Kids are like that. Once, when I was a child, I had been playing out the whole day... Man, my shirt was greenish, completely covered with grass. And to top it all, Prue bought me an ice-cream, and it ended up over the grass on my shirt..."  
"What?" Chris interrupted her.  
Piper looked at him: "I'm just telling her a short anecdote, Chris, I needed to relax... I... Oh..."  
"Yes, mom. But... You were really talking about... a shirt, dirty with grass and ice-cream?"  
"I guess I did... But still..." she frowned. "I don't see the point."  
Phoebe was also frowning: "Cole, really... This book won't be useful! History is His-to-ry. Past! This speaks about... the foundations of this site, how the Elders created it, and why, and double demons that... wow... Double demons?"  
All the faces turned to her in awe, Chris's the worst.

°°°°°°°°°°

The room was full of people, all sat around a round table. Although there was no head or feet, three men occupied the most illumined part of it. A woman and two men, actually, all dressed in light bright grey cloaks.  
"Is everything under control?" one of the men asked in a neutral tone.  
A man in a golden robe in front of them nodded: "The witches are kept in a safe place, so that they won't be a problem."  
"Good..." the woman in grey said, in a low swift and caressing tone. "But we need to hurry You have to bring them all here..."  
"What about my men?" a very tall and robust man in dark rags asked, who stood on the opposite side, behind a chair. "I did what you asked me to do... They're in that damned cage. I hope this is worth something."  
"It is... Believe us," one of the men in grey said.  
A young man in casual clothes approached the table, shyly: "I did this because I thought this was the right thing to do... But my charge is there, and I wouldn't like her to be hurt or..."  
The woman who led the group, smiled reassuringly at him: "Don't you worry at all. They'll all be fine. We only need them not to be in the middle. By the way... I see many more darklighters than whitelighters here. Only three of you joined us?"  
The young whitelighter nodded: "Yes... Actually, it's hard to convince whitelighters to come to a meeting with demons and darklighters..."  
"But this is for the greater Good, John," the man in the golden robe intervened.  
The demon that had spoken first groaned: "Don't call it Good, Elder. Or I'll call it Evil. This is not about Good or Evil... I just joined you because this was convenient for me, too. That's the only reason why I abandoned the fight against the Charmed Ones... for now."  
"Belthazor is right, this is over good or evil. This is not for the Greater Good... It's for the Greater Welfare," the woman in grey smiled, as all the others nodded, pensive.

°°°°°°°°°°

"... Double demons... There was a special class-section for them because they were special. They weren't called that way at first. They were called 'Mestizos.' Actually, they were the result of the union between a source of good and a source of evil, and they were considered as the perfect race. During the first years of the school, an experiment was carried out. The intention was to get this race expand, grow up, and that way delete the line that separates good and evil. This way, the fight would reach an end... But due to their special status, they started to believe they were over the rest of the magical creatures, and they became like dictators. Ironically, good and evil joined forces to end with this race and keep the tip of the balance between the two opposites. From that moment on, any child born from the mixture of a good and an evil creature was treated as anyone else, and for our purposes, we'll refer to those old 'mestizos' as 'double demons', since they, at the end, and from the point of view of Good, leaned more on the evil side. Now, the race is extinguished as a group."  
Chris was wordless: "So... The riddle didn't refer to... Belthazor as a double demon? This is what it was about..."  
Piper nodded: "It seems these 'double-demons' didn't extinguish after all..."  
"And what are they up to, now?" Phoebe asked, worried. Cole shook his head, at a loss, and Bianca stared at them in shock.  
"The author of the book is Gideon..." Phoebe noticed, "what if he's got some more pieces of information in his office?"  
"So maybe you should go over there with Chris and try to find something," Piper said with a smile.  
"But we shouldn't..." Chris replied.  
But his mother interrupted him: "Well I'm here with Wyatt and Bianca... And Cole is also here... We can take care of ourselves, no need to worry. We'll stay here and try to find out a little more."  
Chris sighed. He knew that he had no chance against his mother. And in a way he felt as if she wanted him to let Bianca alone. So he nodded.  
Phoebe took his arm and both went out.

°°°°°°°°°°

"Damn!" Tom swore, "We've been through he whole school now... there is not a sign of them."  
Leo nodded: "They are both gone this time, or they are hiding very well."  
"I don't think that they are here. I would be able to hear Steve's thoughts if he was around... And the false Nicki? She's exposed, she will not return to us, I think." Leo nodded again.  
Tom sighed and sat down on the steps of the large stairway. "And now?" he asked.  
Leo sat down next to him: "What is that with you and Steve... I mean your powers?"  
Tom was moving his fingers nervously: "Steve and I used to live next to each other. Our parents didn't know that each other were witches, too. Steve and I were good friends, always. We were like brothers." He smiled, then went on: "One day we had a little fight and as we did it I heard his voice in my head for the first time. It was... weird... you know... crazy... At first we kept it as a secret 'cause we didn't know about those magic things. But our parents found out and they sent us here to the school. But Gideon told them to bind this one power, 'cause of exams and all that... So they did. And now our power has returned, don't know why..."  
"Well... I think because you're growing up now..." Leo said, "binding of powers never last forever."  
Tom smiled: "Yeah, I remember there was a lecture about this by your son."  
Both kept silence for a while.  
"What do you think, would you like to try again to contact Steve?" Leo asked then.  
Tom sighed: "It will not work, he isn't ... he is out of reach."  
"Yeah," Leo nodded, "but maybe if I help you with a little Elder-power..."

°°°°°°°°°°

Chris walked by his aunt. She had taken his arm and with her other hand she was touching it too. Silently she looked to the ground while walking.  
"You know it, too, right?" Chris asked when they reached the old office.  
"What do you mean?" Phoebe asked back innocently, while her nephew unlocked the magic barrier. They had decided to lock that room for everyone, because of the cellar and the mirror.  
Chris opened the door: "Come on, auntie, you know what I mean." Phoebe sighed, then she nodded and went in.  
Chris closed his eyes. 'Why does everyone know what's going on, except me?' he thought. "You won't tell me right?" he asked.  
"Right," she replied.  
Chris sighed: "O.k., but please answer one question for me, just an honest answer, o.k.?"  
"So ask, and I'll see if I can answer." That was the first time since all that shit happened that Phoebe looked him into the eyes. She felt his fear about Bianca but she knew she couldn't tell him, even though she was sure that he had to know.  
Chris noticed that there was a kind of regret in her look. In a way he knew that this wasn't her decision. So he asked: "Is she o.k.? I mean she isn't ill or something, right? She is fine... She isn't..." He wasn't able to speak out his worst fear.  
Phoebe smiled relieved that she was able to answer this question and nodded: "Yeah... she is absolutely healthy."  
Chris sighed relieved: "O.k. ... thanks."  
"No problem," she answered and turned to Gideon's desk, "now we should go on searching."  
Chris nodded and went over to the mirror. He was thinking about opening the curtain, but he didn't... He was afraid that Phoebe could find out that he was doing this from time to time, just to talk to his other self. He was sure his family would be angry about that. This mirror was a danger, and both versions of Chris knew that. But sometimes it was good to have somebody who understands all that what is going on... especially the time-thing... Or even now, when he felt so much fear about his love... He wished he could talk to him now, but not as long as Phoebe was there, too.  
So he went over to her, sat down on the old chair and started to look through the papers.

°°°°°°°°°°

Steve's throat hurt. The scream hadn't been that long, but it had been so intense. He was still surprised about the yell and was not able to put the image he had seen and the reaction in order.  
'What was THAT?'  
He tried to catch the image again, even if he was scared to death, but he couldn't. It was gone.  
'Well... I guess it's better this way...'  
His eyes hurt, it was so bright and blinding. After some moments his view cleared, his eyes got used to the light and he could see...  
"What?" he yelled, his voice broke, still worn out from the effort.  
What he saw was just unbelievable.

°°°°°°°°°°

Bianca looked at Piper, totally scared. Cole, who felt that he shouldn't be between them, grabbed the little boy and sat down in the other corner of the room, playing with Wyatt. "Come here little boy. You really messed up... we'll clean it up. Ok?"  
Bianca opened her mouth but Piper stared outraged: "No, no, no... oh and NO! You will have that child, it's special, like so many kids in this family and it will have a normal and great life with you and Chris as parents. With a big family. We'll protect it with our lives, just as Chris will do when he hears about that."  
"But didn't you hear that? They were dictators!"  
"Well, ours won't be... We'll raise it good. Don't worry. Please."

°°°°°°°°°°

The angel, the girl sat in front of him and just looked at him, sad and empty.  
"Wh... who...?" he tried to ask her who she was, and automatically tried to step forward to her, but he couldn't move. "Arrgh," the witch moaned in pain.  
He looked down and realised that he was bound on something...'On a wooden cross!' He thought shocked. 'What's this? Some religious crap?'  
His arms were outstretched right and left from him. His feet hung down. His whole body from his feet to his arms and his chest, everything was bound to the cross. A long tight black rope cut him into his flesh. Every single move was punished. He could only move his head a little.  
"What do you want?" He tried to catch his breath. The rope around his chest only allowed flat breathing.  
The girl sat on the white floor and just looked at him, ignoring his questions.  
Steven turned his head as well as he could and observed his surroundings. He was in a ruined city. No, he was above a ruined village. He could see the destroyed houses, everywhere were some pieces of them, wood, metal, broken glass. Everything was on the ground. It was as if a bomb had exploded in those streets.  
But he couldn't see any people, no humans, just the demolished place swallowed by the dust which crept through the empty and abandoned village.  
He shivered. Not only because of the destruction force, which had took place there but because of the colours. He couldn't describe it but it was all in dark, cold colours and seemed so threateningly and scary to him.  
He himself was on an observation tower which was even more destroyed than the village and had a great view over the ruins. The earth around him was levered as if someone had ripped it apart.  
The wind was cold and Steven saw the girl sitting on piles of steal bars. Her hair flowing in the wind, her feet littered with bruises.  
"What do you want?"  
She cried.  
'She looks like Nicki... pretty much like her.'  
"Mestizos," was her only word. Her voice was shy and thin, like the one of a little child, but she herself looked as if she was about his age.

°°°°°°°°°°

While Chris revised all the papers and found nothing interesting, Phoebe was taking a glance at the books, the false books, on the shelves they knew so well.  
"Don't lose your time with that, aunt Phoebe. You know, they won't talk to you like 'open books'," he joked.  
Phoebe smirked, but kept on searching: "Gideon was a writer... Well, I mean, he liked writing books," she finally said, pensive, as she touched the books, one by one, not daring taking any of them out. "I just can't believe he didn't have books in his own office."  
"Well, he had the library..."  
"Yeah, but... think about this. If he wants to hide some specific information, he wouldn't leave it in the library, he'd keep it here..."  
"But we don't really know if he hid something," Chris sighed, throwing all the papers on the table.  
Phoebe ducked to go on revising the lower shelves: "He wrote about the double demons as if he knew a lot about them... I can't believe that's the only available information in this place, and the whole world."  
"He might have destroyed it," Chris suggested.  
His aunt shook her head: "No. He wasn't a fool, Chris. I bet he made it 'disappear' from the rest, but he had to keep that information, just in case... " Then she narrowed her eyes and leaned her head to read a title, as she continued talking, more slowly and in a lower voice: "And I'm sure he would hide a book in the only place no one would look for it. I mean, a 'forbidden book."  
By then, Chris had knelt down and was trying to raise the tiles from the floor, to see if the hid something below.  
"Wait, Chris... Look."  
The boy raised his eyes to meet hers.  
She had taken a book out of the shelves, and was smiling victorious: "I told you!"  
Chris frowned as he read the title in a loud voice. "'Angels and Demons?'" he exclaimed, unbelieving.  
Phoebe went to him: "This is the ONLY real book there."  
"And?" Chris was surprised, and knew this had to mean something, but he couldn't see the point yet. That was a normal novel, very famous at that time... But nothing else.  
"Well, the title is very significant, I guess... And you should read it... It's full of enigmas, man... Gideon loved that stuff, as it seems," she said as she opened the book upside down to release whatever it could hide between the pages.  
"I don't know what you intend to find in there..." Chris muttered.  
But suddenly, he saw something in the empty space that the book had occupied previously.  
"Wait..." he said, as he crawled towards the shelves. Once he was there, he took the object out, a rolled piece of paper, yellowish and old.  
He unrolled it and read...

°°°°°°°°°°

In the dark room where the round table laid, one of the men in grey closed his eyes: "They're going to find out before it's the time. You should hurry up."  
The Elder and Belthazor stared at each other worried: "It's not that easy to get all those witches unhurt and..."  
"And the demons are not so... willing to be imprisoned."  
The woman in grey sighed: "Discretion has no place anymore, Eridon. We need a massive act."  
All the heads turned to her. The whitelighters seemed to be really worried.  
"That doesn't sound very kind..." said John.  
"They won't suffer. I told you. But we need to take them with the others as soon as possible. With this spell you'll do it."  
"Why didn't we do it before?" asked the Source, clearly angry.  
"Because," answered the woman, sighing: "we needed DIS-CRE-TION" She remarked: "But now we have run out of time."  
"What about... those in the school?" the Elder asked. "Does the spell work on them too?"  
The leader, the woman, shook her head sadly: "With them, other measures will be taken. Now I need the greater force of good and the greater force of evil to read the spell for me..."  
The Elder and Belthazor joined, not very willingly:  
_"Listen to us, the greatest power,  
evil and good, joined in this hour:  
we need thee to bring and imprison here  
both of the extremes to end with the fear."_  
At that very moment, in every corner of the world, thousands of people started to disappear from wherever they were...

°°°°°°°°°°

_"To Eridon:  
At this hour, after thousands of years, of centuries... our time is back. We're prepared. We thank thee for joining this cause and understand that a new dawn is necessary. There's only one problem left... The Underworld is ungoverened... If we want to establish this new order, we need a supreme force of all evil to join the cause, so that thou, Eridon, and he, can set the tip of the balance in the middle. For that we ask thee to bring that source to us... We have heard about the twice blessed child. His fate is so powerful that we need him for our cause. Therefore... Thou will turn him and we will have the evil force we need to fulfill our expectations. When it is done, our new world will awake as the perfection we always looked for. Once again... thank thee."  
_Then there was a short note by Gideon's handwriting:  
_"If something happens to me and you find this, I hope you're wise enough as to do as follows: We need to stop the child now that Eridon has disappeared. He can't grow up as the source of all evil. This is the only way to stop them... Without the source of all evil, they're done. There's no way they can achieve their purpose. These are the double demons, they're evil... Extremes don't exist, there's no way to mix these two forces. They were born as separate forces, and so they must be kept. For the Greater Good... Kill the twice blessed."_  
Chris looked pale at Phoebe: "So this is the reason why he was trying to..."  
Phoebe nodded: "And now, they had that source of all evil they needed... Even if they didn't get your brother."  
Chris swallowed.

°°°°°°°°°°

"What do you mean?" Tom asked.  
Leo took a deep breath: "Well... I could try to help you sense him. I could make your power focus on him, try to work as an intensifier."  
"Intensifier?" Tom asked fearful. He had had his power back for only about 20 minutes. He wasn't sure if he was able to handle that.  
Leo felt his fear: "Hey... you're the one who will have the control... It's all in your hands."  
Tom nodded: "O.k. ... what must I do?"  
"Do as you always do," Leo said, sitting down behind him and putting a hand on his back. "Alright?" he asked.  
Tom nodded and closed his eyes. He tried to reach his friend. He tried to find him. He felt the hand in his back and a warm feeling coming from there.  
The white light of the Elders was surrounding him. Even if he had closed his eyes, he could feel it.  
Tom felt the power inside him. It was overwhelming. But he knew he had to find Steve so he focused again. It was hard. He began to sweat, to breath heavily. Then he saw something like a light...  
Leo was observing the young man. He saw that there was something going on. Then Tom cried out loud and fell on the ground.  
Leo jumped over to him: "Are you o.k., boy?" he asked.  
Tom was still breathing heavily but nodded.  
Leo helped him up: "Did it work?" Tom nodded again.  
"What did you see?"  
Slowly the the young man calmed down: "It was ... too short..."  
"O.k., but could you see something?"  
"Ruins," he answered still exhausted.  
"Is that all?" Leo asked confused. Tom nodded.

°°°°°°°°°°

"Who is this Eridon?" asked Phoebe.  
"An Elder... I met him a few times up there... I mean, before I joined them at the beginning... Since then, I haven't seen him," Chris pointed at the ceiling.  
"That's so fucked up!" Phoebe yelled.  
Chris had to smile at her language. "Auntie, you surprise me," he said.  
But all he gained was the angry look of Phoebe.  
"And now?" he asked.  
"Well, let's go back to the others."  
Chris nodded: "Alright... go ahead, I want to look up something else..."  
Phoebe frowned: "We shouldn't separate... if..."  
"Phoebe... come on, I'll catch up with you before you'll reach the library... just don't hurry too much..." he smiled.  
"O.k... Why don't you look that thing up now, as long as I'm here?" she asked.  
"Why don't you tell me what's wrong with Bianca?" he asked back.  
Phoebe swallowed: "I see, you want to be alone here?" Chris nodded. "All right," she sighed, "I'll give you two minutes, and I'll stay outside, at the door..."  
"Agreed," he answered.  
Phoebe narrowed her eyes. She was curious about what it was all about, but she had no idea. And she couldn't take the risk of being forced to tell him everything. So she left the room and closed the door.  
Chris sighed, turned around and pulled apart the curtain in front of the mirror.  
"Oh, your hair is getting a little longer... very nice."  
Chris looked at his evil-self and grinned: "No time for that!"  
"Yeah right!"  
"What about your Bianca? Is she also... so depressed?" our Chris asked still feeling helpless.  
His evil-self nodded: "Yeah, she's crying all the time."  
"Do you..."  
"No idea, brother," he cut him off.  
Chris leaned back on the desk: "I don't know what to do... Have you any idea?"  
His evil self shook his head, while his long hair was dancing around his face: "I think we can do absolutely nothing as long as she isn't willing to tell us what's going on."  
Our Chris nodded: "Yeah, but that hurts... it hurts to see her like that."  
Now his evil-self nodded and it seemed to our Chris that his eyes turned wet.  
"30 seconds!" Phoebe yelled from outside.  
Both versions of Chris sighed.  
"See you later," the evil one said.  
"You really need a hair-cut," our Chris answered, and closed the curtain. Then he went out to his aunt.  
"Did you find what you were looking for?" she asked.  
"Halfway, I think."  
She nodded and took his arm again: "Let's see if Piper has found something."

°°°°°°°°°°

Tom and Leo returned right after Chris and Phoebe.  
"Have you found something?" Piper asked.  
"Yeah, Tom has..." Leo started. But he was interrupted by some white orbing lights. Seconds later an Elder materialised.  
Tom was impressed by that... Well, surely he had met Gideon, and also Leo and Chris were Elders... but to see this one, dressed in the white and golden costume... that was impressing.  
"Odin?" Chris said surprised, "Are you crazy?"  
The Elder looked at Chris with narrowed eyes: "An Elder is never crazy!" And then he mumbled to himself: "Far too young for this business."  
Chris wanted to add something, but Leo held him back. "What happened that made you take the risk to orb here?" he asked.  
"Something terrible has happened."  
"What?" Phoebe asked, and went a few steps closer.  
Odin sighed: "Within a second all witches around the world have disappeared, except those left in this room."  
"What?" Piper yelled while Tom was starting to panic.  
"How?" Leo asked.  
"We don't know," Odin answered astonishingly calm.  
"You don't know?" Tom yelled. "Who else should know if not you?"  
"Tom..." Phoebe tried to calm him down while Odin sighed. He really seemed to be a little helpless.  
"Maybe I know," Chris said and handed over the paper they had found some minutes before.

°°°°°°°°°°

"What's this?" Nicki asked.  
There was again that green light, but this time it filled the whole cave.  
For the first time Paige had the chance to see something. The cave was a little larger and there were a lot of more witches in it than she had thought.  
"Grasp your hands, and get closer," Paige ordered.  
Not a second too late. Shortly after the kids got nearer the charmed one, the cave was overrun by witches, thousands of witches.  
"Oh, my God," Nicki mumbled and Sarah started to cry.

_

* * *

(Chapter 5 written by Dark Angel, Chrissy.W.x and Belén)_


	6. Chapter 6

**A Charmed Story - Part Three:  
Double Demons  
Chapter 6**

Everything was a mess inside the big cave, where they were kept locked. Some of the newcomers were crying, others had fainted and most of them were disoriented.  
There were many kids, even babies... All the witches were there. And it sounded like the Tower of Babel.  
Paige pressed the girls instinctively against her chest, and muttered: "Don't worry, everything's gonna be fine..."  
Derrick joined them and looked very shocked but determined: "Well, here we have all the power we needed... Maybe we can try again!"  
Paige shook her head, disappointed: "Derrick, we can try, if you like... But we have been trying for several hours, and it didn't work. If whoever did this, brought us all here... Don't you think he or she already took into account the fact that we could join our powers? I guess this person or creature took measures for this."  
Nicki nodded, agreeing with her: "And if we give that hope to these people, and then we fail... they'll go mad, you know? Just imagine the fear, if so many witches together can't fight this..."  
Derrick clenched his fists: "But we need to do something..."

°°°°°°°°°°

"So... What's the following step?" Eridon asked.  
The woman in grey turned her kind before, but now icy eyes, to the Elder.  
"Now..." the woman went on, "we'll gather all the lost Mestizos in the world, those who have lived out there without even knowing who they were, how much power they possessed..."  
The two men at her sides, as if they knew what she was going to order next, stood up and disappeared in the middle of a greyish cloud. One went to the jail of demons, the other to the jail of witches.  
"The ones hidden in the school will stop all this," Eridon said.  
"Then you'll have to stop them first," the woman answered coldly.  
"But you said no casualties! We agreed that we wouldn't hurt those inside the magic school, if they didn't get out!"  
"Change of plans... They're getting to us, I can feel it..."  
"I cannot kill them..." Eridon said sadly. The young whitelighter, John, stepped back scared, but unnoticed.  
"Of course..." the woman rolled her eyes, "you're an Elder... Elders cannot kill because they're good! That's what this is about! No good, no evil..."  
Eridon turned pale: "Wait... You cannot change us, can you?" The woman smirked.  
"You cannot change any of us, we're not mestizos..." he went on, stepping backwards and looking at Belthazor. "This was a trap!"  
The woman stood up slowly, smiling...  
The Elder gasped for air: "You used us just to help you gather all the witches and demons... You tricked us out! All this time!"  
The woman raised her hand, slowly... John and the other whitelighters were scared.  
"I had to..." she said, "I would have liked you to go there and bring the Charmed Ones and all the other witches with them, to me... But you spoilt it too soon." Strangely enough, none of them could react, as they saw how the woman blew Eridon up.  
"You were imperfect..."  
At that very moment, the darklighters threw some arrows against her, but she just laughed, and redirected them, killing their owners instead.  
At the same time, she tried to blow Belthazor up, but the source was too quick and disappeared in the middle of flames.  
John and his two friends started to orb away. However, as he disappeared escaping by little, he saw how his two friends orbs exploded in thousands of small blue and white particles.  
The woman smiled: "Those two would not be able to fight the incoming force. Nor them, neither the Charmed Ones." Once she gathered all the Mestizos, or Double Demos as those bugs dared to call them, nobody would defeat them.

°°°°°°°°°°

Odin had turned white as the snow: "They already caught all of them. They'll probably have the demons too."  
"Do you know about the Mestizos, Odin?" Leo asked, worriedly.  
The Elder nodded: "They needed that evil and good joined and worked together. That was the only way to find all the Mestizos, all the Double Demons... But it seems this has already happened. Now it's only a question of time..."  
"What do we do, then?" Chris asked, his heart beating strongly.  
"Run, hide... It doesn't matter. This is the end of the world as we know it. And in the new one... I'm afraid there's no space for any of us," he stated in a grave tone.  
Phoebe hugged Tom instinctively, and Cole held Wyatt on his arms. All the others were so scared and helpless that they didn't know what to say. Bianca's eyes filled with tears, and Chris ran over and sat down by her hugging her tightly.  
"But there must be a way..." he whispered. There's a future, I know that..." But he didn't really know, he didn't know if Wyatt had returned to any future at all, after all. With Belthazor as the source, something that he himself DID, the future could have changed that much.  
Suddenly something crossed his mind: The first riddle reads something like: 'Killing a Double Demon is as easy as cleaning a shirt dirty with grass and ice-cream...' He frowned: 'What if after all, it was a real clue?'  
At that moment, the room was filled with white and blue orbs.  
"John!" Odin exclaimed, "we thought you had disappeared!"  
The boy's face was covered with tears.  
"What happened?" Leo asked and went over to him. John was just shaking his head.  
"John," Leo said and put his hand on his shoulder, "Where have you been?"  
John took a deep breath: "I know you will kill me for what I have done."  
The others frowned fearing that they knew already what he was about to say.  
John swallowed and went on: "It was all Eridon's fault. It was his idea I thought. He told us to act like he ordered, just to make the world a better place, and... And I was so stupid to believe in him."  
Odin sighed: "Don't worry, he was blinding us all." Chris was surprised by those mild words of the Elder. He had known him as a strict and hard person, not that... sympathetic. "Go on," Odin ordered.  
"John swallowed again, then went on: "Eridon took us to that circle... There were demons and darkligthers, too... And the Source... And those people in grey."  
"People in grey?" Piper asked.  
John nodded and went on: "They were the leaders of all that. They want to find those who are not evil, nor good. They want them to rule the world so there's no fighting anymore."  
Piper and Chris sighed remembering the words that evil Wyatt had used so many times. They knew that this would never work. 'Cause there could never be good without evil. There must be always both sides.  
"At first, that sounded good to me. You know, I lost two of my charges in the last months and... I really wanted this to end..." John went on, "... but then things changed. The people in grey killed Eridon and the darklighters, and the other two whitelighters who were with me. I'm not sure, but I think that... me and the Source are the only ones who escaped that field of horror down there. I'm not sure, but... it think the people in grey want to rule the world and they want to use those who are not good nor evil... And I helped them..." He shook his head again: "Odin, please, end my existence... I deserve it... I have no right to go on."  
The witches were surprised by his last words. How could he give up his life that way?.  
"No," Odin said, "you're here... you have been tricked like everyone else here, but finally you are on the right side... And we need you now... We need every little power we have."  
John sighed.  
Chris sat still next to his love, watching her.  
Bianca felt terrible. She was helpless, damn, she was also bearing one of those double-demons inside: The child of a witch and a Phoenix, from a good and an evil source. She started to cry again and lay her head on his shoulder.  
Chris was surprised, nearly shocked. The whole day since that shit had began, she had been hiding something from him and now she was crying on his shoulder, but still he wasn't able to help her. He sighed and kissed her: "Don't worry honey, everything will be alright. I swear!"  
She looked at him with a sad smile. She knew that her problems were less important at that moment, and she knew that Chris had to help the others, that he had to rescue the world again... So she calmed down trying to be strong for him, just as long as he was near.  
"O.k., we need a plan, now," Piper said.  
Chris saw her smile, kissed her again thinking that she was feeling a bit better and went over to the others.  
There was still something he had to do: "Piper, you remember that little anecdote you wanted to tell?" His mother frowned, and then nodded. "How did it go on?"  
"Chris, what..." Odin wanted to say that there was no time for that, but Chris stopped him with a movement of his hand.  
Piper frowned, but then she told: "Well... Grandma was really angry, but... well... she took a mix of soda and salt for the grass and some washing-up liquid and detergent for the ice-cream, mixed it together on the shirt and put it all into the washing machine..."  
Chris smiled while his father, the other Elder, Phoebe, Tom, and the whitelighter were looking at him wondering.  
Then Phoebe started to smile, too. "Vanquish a mix of two demons is as easy as cleaning a shirt which is dirty from grass and ice-cream," she said now nearly laughing.  
Chris laughed too: "Yeah, we tried the Belthazor potion and the spell for the source, but we never combined them!"  
Now also Leo and Tom began to laugh, but Piper couldn't understand yet: "Could you explain that to me?"  
"To me too, please." Odin added.  
Leo smiled and explained the thing about the riddle. And he was sure that it would not only help to vanquish Belthazor, it would also help them to solve the other problem.  
"Your son is a genius," Odin remarked.  
"I know," Piper said smiling.  
"Now, you," Leo turned to John again, "where are the witches, do you know that?"  
"He shook his head: "Not exactly. I only know that they were trapped in a hidden cave, where magic doesn't work. Same as the demons. And also the other creatures. The grey people created a cave especially for every kind." The Elders nodded.  
"But I think Steve isn't there," Tom added.  
Leo looked at him, then to the others: "Yeah, we had a little contact, a few minutes before you arrived, Odin."  
"What have you seen?" Phoebe asked.  
"Ruins," he answered, "no other creature, just ruins."

°°°°°°°°°°

Steve looked at her. "What?"  
She didn't answer, but pointed at him.  
"You mean me? Mestizos? What do you mean? I don't understand." He was breathing heavily. "Where am I?"  
The angel stood up and looked at the ruins, sadly. Then she turned and Steve recognised her face.  
He didn't see only Nicki in her face, but his mother. 'What? Mom?'  
She didn't open her mouth, but he heard her as if she was saying it: "You know it... Steven!"  
'What?'  
"Think, son, think." Now the angel turned completely into his mother. The rope around Steve loosened a little bit.  
"Mom? Is that you?"  
"It's all in your mind, you know the answers..."  
'Mom? In my mind? What? Cut the cryptic crap!' he thought confused but then calmed down.  
The angel, his mom, was standing giving her back to him, looking down at the village.  
'In my mind... in my mind.' He closed his eyes and let go. He saw images in his head. Scenes from his life. He and Tom, growing up, discovering their powers. He saw the moments when they had to tell them, and the way his mom had looked at him. The same way like the faked Nicki had looked at him.  
He opened his eyes and looked at her. "What did you do to my mom?" he cried scared, not understanding the pictures.  
She turned her head, ran to him and hit him hard in the chest. She put her hands over his heart, squeezing it and looking deep into his eyes.  
He tried to catch some breath.  
"Think!"  
Suddenly his head exploded. He heard so many voices, saw so many images; his whole life was being played like a movie before his eyes. Then he understood.  
He smiled at her as he said the words: "Thanks mom."  
The ropes disappeared and he fell on the floor. His mom smiled and disappeared.  
Steve looked at the ruins and then laughed. "In my mind... Yeah totally," he said then, thinking about his house. The scenery in front of him changed... into his house.  
"It's all in my head. I needed to find the answers and she helped me."  
He laughed, happy that he hadn't been caught by a crazy angel. Short time before he saw the green light and could ask what it was, he screamed relieved: "Yeah!"

°°°°°°°°°°

Paige's head flew around. "Did you hear that?"  
Nicki's voice was sarcastic. "You mean the moaning, crying and screaming here? Yeah."  
"No... That was Steven!"  
"What?"  
Nicki, Paige and Veronica listened carefully, searching for Steven's voice.  
"Where the fuck am I!" They heard his puzzled voice.  
"Steve? STEVE!" Nicki cried out.  
"Nicki?"  
"Over here. Wait I'll get you."  
"Is that a promise?" he asked in full notice of the ambiguity. Short after that he felt a smack on his head and said: "Hey Nicki, nice to see you too." Then he felt her arms around him.  
"Shut up!" She led him to the others.  
"What are you doing here? I thought you were in the magic school?" Paige asked worried. "Yeah, I was but... well, it's a long story. Where am I now?"  
"We're trapped. It seems that all the witches of the world are trapped here."  
"You got to be kidding me."  
"No, we tried to pull out powers but it didn't work."  
°°°°°°°°°°

The Elder frowned: "Ruins? Can you show me that, please?"  
Everyone looked at them. Tom grabbed the hands of the Elder and tried to send him the pictures.  
"You know where it is?" Leo asked impatient.  
"It looks like... yeah an ancient village of another world."  
"What!" everyone shouted out loud. "He's in another world?"  
"No. This world doesn't exist anymore. It was destroyed by the double demons long time ago. I guess we saw the last moments, before it was swallowed and destroyed by so much power... He can't be there. Besides, it was the place where the angels, the ancient and what you would call 'real' angels lived. They are all dead." Tom listened carefully.  
"Someone is tricking us, is that what you mean?" Leo asked Odin.  
"I'm not sure. What happened to the boy?" Leo gave him a short version of everything.

°°°°°°°°°°

Meanwhile in the cave, Steve was focusing on sending his information to Tom, but it was nearly impossible. He needed more power.  
"Paige... Mrs. Matthews. Could you and Nicki please give me your hands? I need power."  
"For what? We told you..."  
"Just do it please... I have to contact Tom."  
"You have to? Well, ok."  
"Wait, how much do you need?" Nicki asked. "We've got lots of powers here so maybe we all should grab our hands... at least more than three."  
Some witches, who weren't as shocked as others, helped them. Steve concentrated again and it worked.

°°°°°°°°°°

"Arrghh..." Tom held his head. He felt a great pain, because they had never exchanged so much information at once.  
Leo prevented him from falling: "Tom? Is that Steve?"  
Suddenly everything stopped.  
"Yeah... wait..." He sat down. "He's... with the others. Trapped."  
"What about the angel?" Leo asked.  
"It was his mom...He doesn't know how she did it, but it was her." Odin widened his eyes. "She helped him to understand, to realise that we both... we're also Mestizos."  
The whole group was silent, unsure about what to say about that revelation. So he went on: "Our moms, he thinks, they're the witches. They both had... have a relationship with an 'evil' opposite. We're offspring of a mixture between good and evil. That's why we have these powers, this connection." Everyone listened shocked. Especially Bianca.  
"His mom, well, she caught him, I don't know why and where, but she did it and then...I don't understand, but she was a sort of a projection of his subconscious which told him about our origin..."  
"Wait, I don't understand you. His mom was here, pretending to be Nicki, then she caught him and then his subconscious told him everything?"  
"Well. No. His mom broke into his mind, somehow and showed him everything he had to know. We don't know where she is now...I don't understand it myself, neither does Steve...He thinks she's just hiding somewhere, hiding before something... I don't get that clearly..."

°°°°°°°°°°

Suddenly a grey cloud formed in the cave where the witches were held, and the connection broke.  
Steve gasped for air and fell down on the floor, and Nicki looked at him terrified: "Are you ok?"  
"Yeah... My head aches, that's all..." he mumbled.  
At that very moment silence involved them all. There was a man standing in the middle, smiling kindly at them.  
"Who the hell are you?" Paige cried, standing up and walking to him, but a magical barrier stopped her.  
"She wants some of you to come with me..." he said in a very low soft and beautiful voice; then, he waved his hand, and a golden aura surrounded many of the people inside the cave. These, who had been scared before, turned to look at one another, disoriented; but then, they smiled, and nodded. However, although Steve was also brightening with this golden light, his expression was grave.  
"What's this...?" Sarah asked, terrified.  
"Steve?" this time it was Paige that asked him.  
Steve whispered: "They have seen the future. All these people. They're just like me..." he explained in a low voice. "I need to go."  
"What?" Nicki exclaimed, seeing how all those 'chosen' ones followed the man in grey. "No way! What the hell is all this about?"  
Steve smiled weakly: "I need to go. They don't understand, but I do. Please, trust me. I'm one of them, if I don't go now... We'll have a problem."  
At that moment, the man in grey turned, grinning kindly: "Don't be afraid. You're blessed. It is high time for our destiny to be fulfilled. Come with me."  
Steve nodded. Then he turned to the girls, and Derrick. "I have to go. Trust me," he whispered. Then he stood up and followed the others.

°°°°°°°°°°

"Ok..." Chris said, feeling at a loss after this turning of the screw. "So... that faked Nicki wasn't evil. I guess she pretended to be Nicki because it was the best way to get to Steve. But why?"  
"Maybe because he's the key to save us all?" Cole suggested, who had been listening to them in silent, as he stroked Wyatts hair.  
Tom shrugged, still too feeble: "He's one of them, of these Double Demons... But he has seen the truth, or part of it. So have I... This might help you to stop all this foolish stuff."  
"But there's something I don't understand..." Piper intervened, "if he's now with the others... How did they get to him? I mean, it seems that every single witch and mestizo, and probably demon has been kidnapped, except us. Because we're here, that must be the reason... But Steve was here, wasn't he?"  
Tom shook his head: "What I saw was his mind, but I think he was taken somewhere else..."  
"His own mother put him in danger?" Leo asked, who had been searching in the book for some kind of spell to vanquish the enemy.  
"She..." Tom started to say.  
"No..." Chris said, "she just took him from the magic school so that he was caught too, not to endanger him, but to put the mole on the enemy side. He's now like a double agent, you know what I mean?" He made a short break and looked to Bianca, who stared at him. "... so that we could have some help from the very core of the problem."  
Everyone kept in silence.  
Finally, Leo broke out: "If that's so, he's in danger and he needs us to hurry, anyway."  
Odin nodded: "The only thing I see clear is that one part of the potion should be made of the poison used in the darklighters' arrows, but that potion would only work on half Elders and half whitelighters, together with the potion we need for each kind of demon..." he sighed.  
Piper turned to him. "So you mean we need to make a different potion for each mestizo?" she asked, worriedly.  
John who had been aside all the time, shook his head, shocked: "No! Don't forget this... It's the leaders we need to vanquish. Only them. The others... are just like your boy, Steve, or Tom himself. I mean, I knew many of them, for sure... What you need to do first is preventing all the mestizos, who didn't even know who they were, from turning. And vanquish only the leaders!"  
"But still... Who are the leaders, and of what kind?" asked Phoebe, tiredly.  
John grinned happily: "II think I can help you with that."  
Bianca rose while the others were talking. Chris turned around to her again: "Are you o.k.?"  
She nodded, but he knew that that was a lie. "I just want to walk around a little, sweetie," she explained.  
"But you'll go not alone. I..."  
"No," she said, "you'll be needed here!" Chris sighed, he knew she was right, but...  
"I'll go with her," Cole said and rose, too. He walked over to them and offered her his arm.  
She smiled.  
"Thanks, uncle," Chris said and followed them with his eyes while they were leaving.

°°°°°°°°°°

A soon as Bianca and Cole were out of sight, Bianca started to ran to her room. Cole was surprised for a moment, but then he followed her. He followed her to her room, to the toilette... were she was vomiting.  
"Damn!" he yelled and ran out again.  
Short time later he heard the flushing and returned to the room. "Are you o.k.?" he asked while Bianca sat down on the sofa.  
She nodded and added: "Don't tell him."  
"Girl, even if I would know what this is all about, I wouldn't tell him anything as long as you tell me to do so."  
"Thanks," she said smiling weakly.  
They kept silent for a moment, while Bianca was sobbing a little.  
"Would you tell me what's going on?" Cole asked then softly.  
At that moment, all those things seemed to her as if they didn't matter anymore. The whole world was going to be messed up, and she was still afraid of the little child inside her.  
"I'm pregnant," she sobbed.  
Cole was looking at her with eyes and mouth wide open: "That's fantastic, that's wonderful!"  
"No, it is not, because I'm not allowed to. I have made a deal with the other Phoenixes. They let me stay with Chris as long as there is no offspring... If I don't keep to that deal they will kill my kid and also my little self," she answered with fear, with anger, with tears, but on the other hand unnaturally calm.  
Cole sat down next to her, and hugged her.  
"Hey, your man is a great man... He was able to save the soul of a damned demon, so I'm sure he's able to save you!"  
Bianca smiled weakly: "Thanks, uncle."

°°°°°°°°°°

Steve and the others were standing in the dark room, where the big round table was. Everyone looked confused but somehow happy. They saw the bright future. Their future, their destiny, which was to be something bigger than everything.  
The only person in this room frowning and looking unhappy was Steve.  
The man who had brought them there, stepped next to him. "What is wrong? You don't have to be afraid. You're part of something bigger now." He smiled.  
Steve, who didn't want to 'get caught', suddenly smiled and said: "I know we are, but I'm just a little confused."  
"Yeah." The man grinned kindly and caressed his hair. "You're important, you're special. You'll discover everything in good time. All in good time."  
Our double-agent nodded then turned as he heard a female voice at the back of the room.  
"Welcome. I'm glad to see so many of you."

°°°°°°°°°°

Leo and Piper were gone to one of the laboratories to start making the potions. Odin and John had orbed up there, and Tom was again trying to contact Steve, while Phoebe took care of Wyatt and Chris paced through the room.  
When Odin and John orbed back, they both looked up.  
"Have you got it?" Phoebe asked.  
Odin sighed: "No."  
"NO?" Tom yelled. He was yelling at an Elder, but at that moment he didn't care about that. "Your whitelighter told us that two of them are from witches and demons, that means we need a potion to kill a witch, WHICH YOU SAID YOU HAVE!"  
"I'm sorry. Enya had it, but she hid it after someone, maybe Gideon, wanted to steal it," Odin explained.  
"And were is it now?" Phoebe asked.  
Odin sighed, while John explained: "Its hidden in the Fields of Hope, a magic place where no magic from outside is allowed. Every kind of magic that does not belong to that place, good or evil, will be destroyed if it crosses the border."  
"That means?" Tom asked.  
"That means only those who are innocent humans can go there," Odin explained.  
Chris was listening to all that very strained. Now he took a step forward: "Bind my powers and I'll go."  
"What?" Tom yelled.  
Odin looked at the far too young Elder with surprise. "You can do this right?" Chris asked him. "You can bind my powers completely, just till I'm back, with the potion." Odin nodded.  
"And how will you get there, and back?" Tom asked afraid of another friend disappearing.  
"I will orb him there," John explained, "It's a save place like the school or the council. You don't have to worry. They can't catch him there."  
"But you shouldn't go alone," Phoebe remarked.  
Chris looked at her pledgingly: "We need every power that is left, we can't bind..."  
"Cole will go with you," she said interrupting him. Chris sighed. Then Phoebe turned to Odin: "Bind his powers, I'll go and take Cole." Then she walked out the room.

_

* * *

(Chapter 6 written by Belén, Chrissy.W.x and Dark Angel)_


	7. Chapter 7

**A Charmed Story - Part Three:  
Double Demons  
Chapter 7**

Chris was standing next to Odin, when Bianca entered the room short after Cole and Phoebe. He looked like any day, but she felt that he was not the same. His magic was gone completely.  
Cole went nearer Chris: "Welcome to my world."  
"Very funny, uncle," he answered.  
Odin warned: "Be careful. This place is full of traps and hidden riddles. Get in, find the potion as fast as possible and get out, o.k.?" Chris nodded.  
"No need for details, I've heard of that place before," Cole answered.  
Odin nodded with a smile: "That's why we don't use it anymore..."  
"By they way," Cole added, "why did you call it a field, 'cause, if I remember right, it's more like a wood, isn't it?" Odin just looked at him without any answer.  
"Are you ready?" John asked.  
Cole nodded. "One moment," Chris said.  
He went over to Bianca: "Sweetie, I'm so sorry... I..."  
"You don't have to feel that way honey," she said with her soft voice.  
"I have to, you feel sorrow and I have no time to help you... I wish I could just stay here, with you... and talk... 'Cause I still have no idea of what's going on..." He started to cry.  
Bianca felt sorry, for him... She wished she had told him her secret, but on the other hand there was still the fear, and the hopelessness. She couldn't tell him the truth. And at that very moment, he was unable to feel the truth.  
She wiped away his tears. Then she hugged him tightly and full of love: "Don't think about this now, honey, just come back to me safe and healthy, o.k.?"  
He nodded and kissed her. Then he turned to John, grasped his hand, same as Cole had done, and the three man orbed away.  
Bianca sighed while watching the orbing lights. Phoebe was caressing her hair: "Cole will take care of him."  
"I know," she answered.  
Odin looked at her and frowned: "What's wrong with you, Phoenix?"  
Bianca glanced at him furious: "Don't call me that!"  
The Elder raised his eyebrows: "But that's what you are."  
"But I wish I would not!" she yelled back at him.  
Odin sighed: "No one can change the way we were born. But you can change how you act. You are a Phoenix, you should accept that, because that is you. But that doesn't mean that you can't be good... And I know that you are good."  
Phoebe looked at the Elder with surprise, same as Bianca.  
"Nice words, Odin," the witch said.  
"Thanks," Bianca whispered.  
"Never mind... you and your future husband taught us a lot about love and tolerance... a lot of things which were lost under a mountain of rules and orders... So we have to thank you."  
Phoebe smiled at him still not really believing what she just had heard.  
Bianca smiled too, and then she added: "The Phoenix thinks that we should take Wyatt and go over to Piper and Leo."  
Odin nodded and left the room. Phoebe took the boy and followed him and Bianca.

°°°°°°°°°°

"Damn!" Paige yelled frustrated. She couldn't believe that she had lost Steve that way.  
"I'm sure he's alright," Nicki whispered to her. Sarah started to cry again, and Veronica tried to calm her down.  
"Excuse me... Mrs... Matthews?" Paige turned around even if she wasn't able to see from where this male voice was coming.  
"Who is there?" she asked.  
"My name is Lorenz Marsden, I'm Tom's father," the man said.  
"Are you?" Paige asked, beginning to go a little crazy about all that.  
"Yes, I am... And I have to tell you something," the man went on.  
Nicki frowned: "Tom never told that his father is a witch. He said his mother is one."  
The man sighed: "That's true, he doesn't know that... But his mother is not a real witch, she is something different."  
"And what?" Paige asked.  
"Why doesn't he know that?" Nicki interrupted.  
"Because his mother is from the evil side," the man explained.  
Paige frowned. Nicki couldn't see it but she was sure that she had frowned. "So, is she a demon?" the Charmed One asked.

°°°°°°°°°°

Steve kept listening to the woman, who emanated an agreeable and peaceful aura as she spoke so softly.  
He just took a glance around him to see all the people gathered there. There were lots of witches, or what he thought were witches, but there was a great amount of other kind there. Those who he would have classified as demons...  
However, they were all now in the same team. They all had a parent from the evil side and another one from the good side. The only difference was the environment in which they had been raised... But now they were all the same. They were all willfully paying attention to the woman that was talking.  
"This is a great day for you all, my children," she said, even though some of them were apparently older than her. Only apparently... "This is the beginning of a new era, which marks the end of all suffering, fear and pain. No more fights between good or evil. You're both things, and none of them. You're the species meant for the creation. The peak of the Great Design. The others were only the means... to get to us all. We are the completion of the perfection of this work. We have been persecuted, killed, reduced, humiliated, and ignored... But we survived, just waiting for the moment of the truth to come. And here we are today..."  
Steve was listening attentively, but couldn't help remembering what he had seen, what his mother had shown to him. He couldn't believe this woman was of the same kind, even one of the same people, that had caused so much sadness and destruction.  
And some minutes before he had been shown a perfect future, too... No battles, no wroth, no fight... no Elders, no witches, no demons... no Nicki, Chris, Leo, the Charmed Ones... Not even his own mother. None of them were there anymore. They were the sacrifices... And he, Steve, knew that.  
Even the innocents, the human beings... what would happen to them?  
"You are the Chosen Ones, you were born with a purpose. And this purpose is about to be fullfilled. All of you, all of us, the race of mestizos...", she went on, "are here today! For the first time in centuries... We've gathered our whole race, and now the last step to reach this end is possible... Take your hands..."  
All of them, former demons and former witches, did as they were told, around the round table. The woman in grey as well as the other two men stayed in the most illuminated part. She closed her eyes, and the rest imitated her. Then, she started to pronounce words in an unknown language, in a very ceremonial way...  
The room started to bright with the same golden aura that had covered them before. They were smiling...  
Steve opened his eyes, not knowing what he should do next. He was worried now... What if he couldn't stop that? He swallowed. What was gonna happen next? Was everyone going to die? He wanted to let go off his partners' hands, but he couldn't.  
However, as if his desires turned true, the bright light went off, and darkness covered them.  
The woman stopped her words, and stared at one of the men at her sides: "What has just happened?"  
"I don't know... There's something wrong."  
"Are you sure they're all here?"  
Both men nodded: "All the others in the caves were witches, whitelighters and demons..."  
"There's someone left. Otherwise, this would have worked," she whispered. "Someone is hiding or keeping one of us... Without her, or him, we won't be able to fullfill this task!" she almost cried, desperate.  
"The magic school?" one of the men asked. "Could still be any of us there? With the Charmed Ones?"  
'Oh, my God... Tom...' Steve thought.

°°°°°°°°°°

John had led Chris and Cole straight to the very boundaries of the so called Fields of Hope.  
"This is the farthest I can go... I'm sorry I can do nothing else for you... " he said sadly.  
Chris smiled at him reassuringly: "You already did a lot, man. Now, go back and help them in whatever they need, ok?" John nodded.  
"Thanks, buddy..." Cole said, patting his shoulder. Then he turned to what was waiting for them and sighed: "Well, let's do it!" He and Chris took a quick glance at each other, and then crossed the border.  
John watched them doing it before he orbed away.

°°°°°°°°°°

Belthazor had shimmered straight to his lair in the Underworld which was now empty.  
"Damn it!" he yelled, furiously.  
He should have realised it was all a trap. Now he had very little to do. They'd end up finding him and vanquishing him, as well as every witch and demon in the world.  
Up there, on earth, it was all a mess. Thousands and thousands of missing people, everywhere...  
'And they had ever feared the demons!' he thought sarcastically.  
However much he thought about it, he could only reach to a conclusion. He was alone, and there was only one thing left to do... But how?

°°°°°°°°°°

Cole and Chris stood in front of a huge gate. It was made of silver which sparkled in the moonlight.  
"Moonlight... I didn't noticed that it's so late."  
Cole smiled: "Time is flying..." Then he turned his head back to the gate. "What does that mean?" he asked, pointing at some kind of scripture.  
"That's the language of the Elders... I think," Chris answered.  
"So what does it mean?"  
_'Be aware of what you're doing. This place shows you your worst fear. Take it or leave it,'_ Chris read, but when he turned to his uncle he just said: "Welcome!"  
"So let's get in," Cole sighed and took a step through the gate.  
Chris followed him a little unsure about whether the binding of his powers was really complete. But when he stepped in the field, or wood, nothing happened. So he sighed. "And now?" he asked looking at that rainforest-like place which resembled a place with thousands of trees, flowers and little animal and creatures.  
"You're the Elder, boy," Cole answered smiling.  
Chris sighed again and started to walk straight ahead. Cole followed him.  
It was really a crazy place. Even though his powers had been bound, Chris could feel the magic all around. Also Cole could feel that.  
They went deeper and deeper into that wood. And the world around them was getting darker and darker.

°°°°°°°°°°

"You did what?" Leo asked, unnable to believe what Odin had just told him.  
"Leo calm down please, it was his own decision," the Elder said defending himself.  
"Yeah, I'm sure it was... As sure as I am that you didn't told him what he will find there."  
Phoebe and Bianca frowned. 'What was Leo talking about?' Also Piper seemed to be worried, because of the break-out of her husband. Tom stood a little aside watching that scene with fear.  
"Could you explain that to me, honey?" Piper asked her husband, not taking her eyes away from Odin who sighed.  
Leo turned to his wife, not sure if he should tell her.  
"Leee-oooo?" that was Phoebe.  
"In former times the Elder used that place for testing future witches. They sent them in, to face their worst fears. Those who managed to get through it and get out, were considered to be strong enough to become good witches..."  
"And the others?"  
Leo swallowed: "Nobody knows, they... they never got out."  
At that moment Bianca felt as if someone had taken away the ground under her feet. She staggered, and Phoebe had to hold her.  
Piper also went over to her and hugged her: "They will get out, I'm sure." Then she looked at Phoebe: "Both of them." Her sister nodded.  
"What's wrong with this girl?" Odin whispered to Leo.  
He shrugged: "I don't know."  
At that moment, John returned. "Alright, they are in," he said. But when he saw the angry face of Leo and the sorrow of the girls, he felt that it would be better to keep silent now. So he did. During a few minutes, none of them said any word.  
Then suddenly Tom cried out loud in pain: "No!... Steve... NOOOOO!"

°°°°°°°°°°

Belthazor was thinking deeply about his idea... He himself had helped to imprison his fellow-demons, as well as that foolish Eridon had done with the good beings... But he doubted that now, he was still able to reach the caves and free the demons on his own. Probably he had been locked out from them.  
He roared in anger as he paced stepping strongly from one corner to the other in the lair. He was the source of all evil and could do NOthing!  
The only chance was getting to the Charmed Ones, to Phoebe... and joining them.  
For little he liked the idea, that was the only solution, to join his enemies against someone superior...  
But he didn't have any idea of how he could do that. And besides, he felt like vomiting at that thought.

°°°°°°°°°°

Paige was still staring at Tom's father, in disbelief. "So... that's true... his mother is a demon." she muttered, weighing up the transcendence of that information.  
The man was fast at rectifying: "Well, she isn't a demon exactly. She is a... Phoenix." He made a short break, then went on: "Her.. people didn't like the idea that she was pregnant of a good witch, so she had to hide, and after having Tom, she went back with her people, saying that she had been kept against her will... They never knew that she had a baby... And she... well, she comes whenever she can, to visit him, not very often, actually." Everyone around him frowned.  
"Is Tom evil, then?" Sarah asked innocently.  
Veronica chuckled: "Girl, you didn't really pay attention to the lesson about Ancient History, did you? That one which Gideon taught..." Sarah turned to her at a loss, and Nicki still frowned.  
"Of course not!" Mr. Mrasden exclaimed, "My son is good, you all know him..."  
"So...?" asked Paige. "Well, it's clear he's the son of evil and good, but..."  
Veronica rolled her eyes. "Don't you really know about that? I mean, none of you has ever heard about... Mestizos, Double Demons?" the girl said, a bit upset.  
Paige turned her eyes from one to another, and heard how Nicki started to breathe faster. "Oh, my God..." she whispered. Sarah looked at her confused, but Veronica smirked. "Look at the good student..." she said.

°°°°°°°°°°

Chris and Cole were walking or trying to, very slowly. The rainforest was turning thicker and thicker...  
"Uncle..." he panted as he tried to open a way to go on walking, "You were wondering how they could call this field, if it was a wood..."  
"Aha..." was the simple answer of Cole, who was looking around him, worriedly.  
"Well..." Chris continued, "I'm wondering how you could call this.. wood, when it's a rainforest..."  
Cole kept silent. Yeah... the trees and green had grown a bit much, from what he remembered...  
All of a sudden, Chris stiffed, tense... "Have you heard that?" he asked.  
Cole frowned: "Heard what?"  
"That..." he made a gesture to ask him for silence. Cole shook his head, and Chris frowned: "What? Are you deaf?"  
The young Elder knew he wasn't... He knew it was happening. Whatever it was, it had to do with his greater fears... It had started with him, because he was the most vulnerable?  
"Uncle, come on, pay attention... There's something over there!" he pointed towards the front.  
"Well, then, let's go..." Cole shrugged. "What is it, exactly?"  
Chris shivered. It was so clear... the sound... Cole had to hear it, he had to... "Are you sure you can't hear it?" he asked, very scared. It was different from the fear that Barbas used to cause. Here, he was aware of the fact that whatever happened, it was all about his fears. The problem was that he had to face them... Alone.

°°°°°°°°°°

Tom lay on the floor still crying and yelling. Phoebe and Leo tried to calm him down, but they couldn't. Then he was silent. He just lay there, tired and breathing heavily.  
"What happened?" Piper asked, after he rose to the half.  
"Was it Steve again?" Leo asked.  
Tom nodded, still out of breath. "They plan something..." he said then, "a... a kind of reunion... but they need all... they need me..."  
"What?" Piper asked.  
"Oh no," Tom started to cry, "they are coming... Don't know how, but... they will come here... and take me."  
Phoebe hugged the boy. She felt that he was desperate and afraid. She started to cry with him.  
Piper, who was holding Wyatt in her arms, hugged him a little closer: "And now?" she asked.  
Odin knelt down to the boy: "Do you know what kind of Mestizo you are?"  
"What does it matter?" Leo asked.  
"Just want to know which powers he'll probably have."  
"I don't know," Tom answered, "I know my mom is a witch, she left us because of that, she wanted me to have a normal life... always thought my dad was just human."  
"I think we have no time for that kind of discussion," Piper broke in, "we have to hide somewhere, where they can't find us." She turned around to John: "The spell they used to imprison all witches... Was it temporary, or will we get caught too when we leave this safe place?"  
John shook his head: "I think that nothing will happen to you, as long as they don't find you."  
Piper nodded and turned around again: "So maybe..."  
She stopped, because she had spotted a little mouse running to them. It was carrying a little sheet of paper.  
Leo took it and read it to them:  
_"Even if I would love to kill you, I need your help this time. The enemy is much bigger than I am for you and you're for me. I wouldn't ask for an alliance if I saw another way. My doors are open. Belthazor."  
_"Wow," was all that Phoebe could say.  
"So, now we know where to go," Piper said, picking up the new potion for him, which they had created - just for safety - and went over to her husband. "Come on, orb us there."  
"I'll take Tom," Bianca said to Phoebe, "you go with Odin and John."  
Phoebe wanted to protest, but her sister was already away. She sighed: "So let's meet that evil red-face again."

°°°°°°°°°°

Chris felt his heart beating strongly. He could hear it, it was so near. He knew that if he put the leaves in front of him aside, he would see it.  
"Chris?" Cole asked scared, because his nephew had suddenly stopped.  
But he didn't answer. Chris was standing there, trying to calm down his emotions. But he couldn't. He knew he had to face his fear, he knew... But was that knowledge enough?  
He heard it... a little soft sound... a sound like sobbing... a sound like whining...  
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Then he put the leaves aside and went a step forward.  
He was on a little empty glade. He turned around to look for Cole but he wasn't there anymore.  
"Cole! COLE!" he yelled. But there was no response... he had to face his fears alone.  
Anxious, he turned slowly around.  
There she was... his mother.  
She lay in the grass, deadly wounded, covered with blood all over her body... And she was whispering his name.  
The young Elder swallowed  
"Chris, sweetie..." she whispered.  
He looked at her. It felt as if his heart had just stopped beating. He tried not to let this picture into his mind.  
Chris closed his eyes again: 'It isn't real, right?' But when he opened his eyes, she was still there.  
She was still there... dying...  
Chris swallowed again. He looked away, trying to concentrate on his mission. But there it was again, her whisper...  
"Chris, help me."  
Chris looked to her again. His heart was beating faster; he felt the tears crawling from deep down inside him up to the surface. 'That can't be true!' he yelled in his thoughts.  
He turned around, he wanted to run away. But the way was gone.  
"Chris," she whispered again. "Chris I must tell you something..."  
He felt a tear running down his cheek. He felt helpless and unable to breathe. Every little movement, every thought... it all hurt inside him. His feelings hurt inside him.  
Again he turned around. She was still there, she was still dying.  
Chris closed his eyes again, while more tears ran over his face. "Please don't do this to me," he whispered, "I can't live that again."  
Again he looked at her. He couldn't bear it anymore. His emotions took control over him. Slowly Chris went to her, facing her... facing his dying mother.  
He knelt down, taking her bloody hand. He swallowed, he began to sob. He wished this to end; he wished this to change... He wished that he himself was the one lying there instead of her...  
Then Chris broke down next to her and cried.

°°°°°°°°°°

Cole was scared and confused. He had knelt by his nephew and was trying to shake him, make him come back to reality.  
He couldn't understand anything at all: "Come on, buddy, what happens? Just tell me what happens..."  
Chris didn't seem to hear him, to notice him. He had broken down suddenly after mumbling some incoherent words, and falling on his knees, he had started to cry.  
"I can't live this... not again again..." he repeated, among other senseless sentences.  
Cole stroked his hair, and tried to calm him down. What was that? He didn't understand anything, and the fact that both men were there without any powers at all, scared him to death...  
Had that Elder lied? Or had John tricked them out? What if that whitelighter was, after all, helping the Double Demons and had taken them somewhere else? But no... He knew that that was the place... and that place was doing that to him...  
"Chris..." he whispered.

°°°°°°°°°°

Chris was shuddering at the sight of his mother dying. Those memories hadn't disappeared completely from his head, even if he had tried hard to forget them. Some nights, he still saw his mother dying in his arms, and he was never able to do anything.  
Piper looked at him coldly, covered with her own blood. "You could have saved me..." she said.  
"No, mom... I can't... I can't heal..." he answered shaken by spasms caused by his crying. "I wasn't able to heal... You know that."  
"You knew what was happening..." she continued, weakly.  
"What? No..." he realised suddenly what she meant, "I didn't see him... I thought it was a demon..."  
Piper shook her head peremptorily. "You knew it was him. You always knew that Wyatt was evil. But you didn't do anything... and he killed me," she mumbled, coldly.  
"No..." Chris sobbed, devastated, "I didn't know... I wish I had... But I didn't know..." He had closed his eyes and hugged his mother strongly. "Stop this, please... Stop it now!" he cried. Now he was completely covered by her blood...  
"You should have known..."  
Chris opened his eyes which were welling up in tears, only to find that Piper was not there anymore... Her place was now taken by Bianca.  
"You knew what was happening... You should have known, baby..." she said, in agony.  
Chris's heart beat dangerously fast. "No..." he whispered, whitening. "No, no, no, no... please, no... This cannot be true..."  
Bianca stared at his eyes, deeply inside his mind. "You should have tried hard... I needed you, but you didn't try to get to me. You knew there was something wrong with me... But you didn't do anything..." she said accusingly.  
Chris sobs and heartbeats turned stronger, he started to hyperventilate. "You wouldn't tell me... I tried, but you wouldn't tell me..." he started to feel very sick, panic had conquered his mind.  
"You can not fight... You were always too weak..." she went on.  
Chris mumbled, shaking violently: "I did... I swear I did... I fought... But I couldn't... She... you... wouldn't tell me what was wrong. Bianca, please... I need you..."  
Bianca's voice suddenly softened: "Fight, honey... you should fight stronger, so that your mom doesn't die, so that nothing wrong happens to Bianca... to me."

°°°°°°°°°°

"Fight, Chris, ok? Can you hear me? You need to fight so that we can get outta here with what we need. Come on, buddy. I'm right here. Whatever is happening to you, you have to fight... Come on..." Cole was saying once and again.  
But Chris seemed to be really sick. He had turned paler; his eyes were wide open, and all his body was shaking. And it was clear he wasn't seeing him... He only repeated: "I didn't know... you wouldn't tell me... I swear I did..."  
"Cole?"  
Cole turned around at the voice at his back, startled at the sight behind him. He frowned: "Dad!" His father... that wasn't possible.  
He shook his head and closed his eyes, to erase that image from his mind. But when he opened them again to go on watching Chris... the boy wasn't there anymore. Not for him.  
Instead, his father was. And his mother... She smiled evilly at him, her hands covered with blood.  
Cole looked at her in shock. That was not possible. "You cannot be... real."  
He stood up and stumbled backwards, almost falling down. His eyes followed his mother's arms, towards her hands, and then down to his father's body, who was bleeding from a wound on his chest.  
"Cole... I had to do this, and you know it..." Cole blinked, and breathed heavily. She was not speaking to him, but to a little dark-haired child by her side. "He was a problem for us. You're over him, and you know it... He was only a human being... a weak creature... You are Belthazor, sweetie..."  
"No..." the child and the adult Cole mumbled.  
"You need to understand... Your daddy... had to die..."  
The dead man's head turned slowly to him. He was dead, but he spoke to him, to the oldest version of Cole: "Don't give up, my son... You're better than that. You're Cole... Cole is more powerful than Belthazor..."  
"Dad... " Cole sobbed as he listened to him.  
His mother started to laugh out loud, and then, the man's body faded away.  
"Dad!" he cried.  
The child went on crying on his mother's arms, and she smirked at him, the adult Cole. "Belthazor will win, my child... And you know that."  
"Noooo!"

°°°°°°°°°°

"Welcome to my lair, sweetie..." said Belthazor, as he saw Phoebe appearing and ignoring the rest.  
"Don't touch me," she flinched, "we're here because you needed us. So, let's go to the point."  
"We need each other..." he answered, suddenly sombre.  
Odin looked around a little scared. He hated to be in the Underworld, he hated to be so near to the source.  
Belthazor smiled at him, noticing it: "Something's wrong, Elder?"  
"No-no!" Odin shook his head.  
John grinned because of the unsureness of one of the great Good.  
"So why did you call us?" Piper asked.  
"Thought you already knew that," he smiled evilly, "we have to stop those old double-demons who will kill everybody, if we fail."  
Leo raised an eyebrow: "And why should we trust you?"  
"You already do it... otherwise you wouldn't have brought the little boy with you..." Belthazor went over to Piper who was holding Wyatt in her arms. He smiled at the boy, playing with his fingers in front of his face saying: "Gutzy-gutzy-gutzy!"  
"Go away, you're scaring him," Piper said. But Wyatt just laughed happily, as kids do.  
Then Belthazor looked at the others. When his eyes went on to Tom, the red of his face seemed to turn grey. He jumped over to him, grasped his neck and tried to strangle him.  
"Let him go!" Phoebe yelled. Tom was gasping for air.  
"He's one of them; he's going to kill us!" Belthazor yelled!  
"Let him go, or I'll blow you up!" Piper yelled.  
A moment later, the source let the boy free, mumbling in anger. Tom fell to the ground. He was breathing heavily but he did.  
"He will kill us, you'll see it," Belthazor mumbled.  
"He will not," Phoebe repied, "because he's one of our students." She smiled at Tom who rose slowly, observing the demon mistrustful.  
Belthazor started to pace through the cave. 'How could I be so stupid to ask those kids for help,' he thought. He sighed secretly. Then he turned to his guests again: "So then... what's your plan?"

* * *

_(Chapter 7 written by Chrissy.W.x and Belén)_


	8. Chapter 8

**A Charmed Story - Part Three:  
Double Demons  
Chapter 8**

Cole wanted to run away, run away from that pain, form that fear. But when he turned around, there was no way. He was there, in the middle of that place, alone.  
Someone hugged him from behind. It was his mother, he knew it; he could smell it.  
He closed his eyes wishing that she went away. But she didn't.  
She turned Cole around, and when he opened his eyes, again he saw her red demonic face. "I love you, baby. I'm so proud of you my little Belthazor," she said smiling.  
"NOOO! Cole yelled. Then he freed himself and went a few steps backwards falling down...  
He fell over a little dead body. Cole was looking at that boy, swallowing. "Charly..." he muttered.  
The kid was dead, killed by a demon...  
His mother smiled at Cole: "You killed your first human, baby... That's a day to celebrate!"  
"NO!" Cole yelled in pain, remembering that day, "He was my friend, we were just playing... This was an accident!"  
The man started to cry, seeing that scene from his past again in his mind.  
He had killed his best friend. They were playing and then... in that action, he had killed him with a fireball.  
His mother went over to him, hugged him: "You did a good job."  
"No...No-ooo-ooo," Cole cried, unable to get away from her. He was sobbing and whining and crying into the arms of his mother.  
After a while he calmed down a little and she let him off. Cole was swallowing, the kid's body was gone. But his mother was still there.  
Cole wanted to hide his face in his hands, just to cry a little more on his own. But when he raised his hands, they were red.  
Cole stared at them shocked. Those were not his hands, those were demonic hands... Belthazor's hands... his hands...  
"Why? Why are you doing this to me?" he yelled in anger. But when he looked up, his mother was gone. He was alone.  
He rose and turned a few times around himself. Then he saw something else... What was that?  
On the grass a few steps away, there was another body lying. Cole felt his heart beating strongly, he felt his fear. But something inside him was pushing him to get closer.  
Step by step he went nearer. It was a woman, lying on the grass... covered with blood... killed by a demon...  
Shivering he went closer. She was lying with her face on the ground, so he couldn't see who she was. Her hair had a few grey streaks. He was wondering about that, he didn't know anyone with grey streaks.  
Swallowing and breathing strongly he knelt down next to her. Fearful and shivering he put his hand on the body, and turned her around. Then he looked into her eyes, the eyes of Phoebe.  
"NOOOOOO-NOOOOOO-OOOO!" he cried in pain. 'That couldn't be true, that couldn't be true' he thought! He felt as if someone was stabbing his heart.  
"No this can't be true... not you!" he yelled. He broke down over her crying, helpless... fearful... hopeless. He felt the pain killing him little by little, just to let him suffer a bit more.  
'This can't be true!' he yelled in his thoughts while sobbing into her clothes.  
He wasn't able to move, he wasn't able to think, he wasn't able to feel anything else than pain.  
And in the middle of all that pain, he heard some soft steps, which stopped next to him. When he rose his eyes full of tears, he saw two little girls, maybe around 6 and 4 years... They were looking at him with sadness, holding each other by their hands.  
"Why have you done this?" the older one asked.  
Cole was unable to answer, still unable to think... He wanted to ask who these girls were, but he couldn't speak.  
"Why have you done this, daddy? Why have you killed mommy?"  
Cole felt as if his heart had stopped to beat.

°°°°°°°°°°

"So..." Paige sighed after the long explanation by Veronica and Tom's father, "I get from this that... Tom is a Double Demon..."  
"Mestizo, call him mestizo," Mr. Marsden begged, "that name sounds too rude... please."  
"Whatever," Paige continued, "he's a mestizo, right? And according to you, mestizos are not evil, nor good."  
"Well, that's the concept..." Nicki said, now she knew what they were talking about, "which should mean that they can adapt themselves... If they are raised as good, they should be good. If they're raised as evil, well... They'd be evil."  
"But they missunderstood it," Veronica took the word, "they just... assumed that they're the balance. They're in the middle, and that THAT is the correct position. They thought they could prevail over good and evil... So they want to destroy the two extremes."  
Sarah's sobs together with these discoveries, made Paige shudder, as well as Derrick.  
But at that moment Paige frowned: "And why are we talking about this stuff now?" She asked: "Do you believe that all this... has something to do with them?"  
Mr. Marsden sighed: "I have been thinking about that all the time I've been here. And after their coming, and selection of those witches and whitelighters... and their speech, of course... I can hardly believe that they could be someone else..." He made a break to took a breath. "Besides," he added before anyone else could intervene, "they took Steve... He's also a Mestizo, as well as Tom. We discovered that because of their telepathic powers. That connection is only so strong among them. We had to bind their powers... I have lived with the fear of losing him... all my life."

°°°°°°°°°°

"So does none of you know who's the missing brother or sister? Someone that comes from the magic school?" the woman in grey asked, after seeing her men disappear, in search for that person.  
Steve trembled a bit, but wished that she hadn't seen him.  
Many heads shook upset, and the woman sighed: "He's in a great danger out there. He'll be persecuted and killed, if we don't find him... or her. That's what happened to us in the past. That's what we're gonna stop now. But we need to find him, to bring him home..."  
The woman's voice was so sweet, so soft, that Steve had to fight hard not to believe her. He had to keep silent.  
"Let's do something..." the woman went on, "all of us have a connection... Just close your eyes... relax... and think about our missing sibling. With our telepathy we'll find him, and we'll help him to bring him home." Her intention was to transmit her knowledge, once she had it, to her men, so that they could find the missing piece. They didn't have time to lose.  
Everyone closed its eyes... Everyone except Steve. He was scared, and didn't know what to do.

°°°°°°°°°°

"I tried... I promised I tried... And I need you to tell me what's wrong with you now, baby... Because if you don't... I'm gonna die. If something happens to you and I can do nothing to stop it..." Chris had tried to calm down, little by little, thanks to the latest words of his love, encouraging him to fight. Her smile, her look, were unique. But even so, he was still feeling he had failed everyone.  
"You'll never be able to save any of us, Chris." These harsh words were again coming from an icy Bianca. "If you're really worth it, if you were really the man I thought you were... You'd not need me to tell you what's wrong with me. You'd be able to discover by yourself. But I was wrong with you... You'll never save any of us."  
"No..." Chris moaned, and fell over Bianca's body desperately devastated, crying like a little baby.  
He hugged her tightly, with all the strength left in his arms... But she vanished right in front of his eyes, and he found himself embracing the very same air...  
"No, no, no..." he repeated, believing he'd finally go crazy.  
Her words hit his mind repeatedly: "You'll never save any of us, you'll never save any of us, you'll never save any of us..."  
Her voice was changing; it was becoming maler, ruder, stronger... and eviller. He uselessly tried to embrace something, but there was nothing there. Only the voice...  
When he raised his shocked eyes, he saw him... The gigantic well-built man with long blonde hair, his brother, staring at him with an evil smirk on his lips.  
"You'll never save me," Wyatt said in an icy tone, with his arms folded on his chest.  
Chris's breath was cut off. He couldn't believe his eyes. There, kneeling on the ground, he just couldn't take his eyes from the huge man that he had learnt to fear and love above all things.  
There was a moment of silence. Chris was about to collapse.  
All of a sudden, Wyatt orbed Excalibur to his hands, and approached him slowly, with the evil smirk on his lips.  
"Be prepared to die, little brother..." he said, looking at his neck completely exposed to the harsh metal.  
Chris wouldn't move... He breathed heavily, trying to calm down. That was all a trick... All a trick of his mind. He knew that, and he needed to fight, as Bianca had said before. Still with his eyes closed, he rose to speak. "You're not gonna do this, Wyatt..." he said with a trembling voice.  
"How can you know that?" was the cold question coming as a response.  
"Because I did... I saved you..."  
No answer.  
"I saved you already, and thus I saved mom... She'll not die. I killed the demon that was gonna kill her. I killed the demon you had inside..."  
Silence.  
Chris didn't dare to open his eyes. He shivered when the metal touched his neck.  
"You can not help Bianca..." his brother's voice said.  
"I can... and I will. Because whatever happens to her, I love her, and I'll always be there. And what I'm doing now... is to save her, too. So I will. It doesn't matter what you say. I know I will. And you won't kill me, because you don't exist anymore..." he continued.  
Again silence. But even though he still could feel the cold on his neck, he had the feeling that nothing was there, actually.  
He swallowed, and then he opened his eyes slowly...  
In front of him stood his beloved brother, Wyatt, with his eyes welling up in tears, and smiling at him. "I knew you'd do it, baby brother..." he said.  
Chris stared at him, confused.  
By his sides, Bianca and Piper were also smiling at him: "Go ahead now..." Their voices weren't their voices actually, they were like magical voices soft and sweet, and nothing to do with human voices.  
Chris nodded and smiled weakly, still shivering. He saw how the three figures just faded away, and he found himself looking at the front in the middle of a thick rainforest.  
Suddenly he heard another voice behind him: "I didn't do that. I can't have done that..."  
Cole had knelt on the ground, and was crying desperate. He seemed to be caressing someone lying on the ground, but there was no one there.

°°°°°°°°°°

Leo sighed: "Our plan is just easy... we want to kill those double demons."  
"You can't kill all of them, there are two many," the source remarked.  
"No, we only want to vanquish the grey dressed people," John explained, "only they are the danger."  
The demon let out some air with a deep breath. Piper and Bianca turned a little sick by that smell. "But how do you plan to get there?" he asked then.  
"Well," Piper went on, "we know that they are still missing one person, so if we could make them believe..."  
"No!" Tom interrupted her. "We..." he looked at Belthazor, "they have a special connection... all of them... they will find out that it's a lie."  
"This boy is very clever," the source remarked. But nobody reacted on that.  
"O.k., so we need a distraction... Any idea?"  
"We could free the witches," Phoebe suggested, "then we have also Paige back, we could need her."  
"Yeah, and we should free the demons, too." Bianca added. Odin, Leo and John were looking at her with suspiction. Phoebe frowned, Piper sighed... and Belthazor smiled.  
The Phoenix knew what they were thinking, but she had to follow her heart. "In that case, those demons are as innocent as the witches, right?" Piper was the first who nodded. The others did the same.  
"So we need one group for the witches and one for the demons," Odin remarked.  
"Maybe Piper should stay here," Leo replied, and Odin nodded.  
"What?" Piper yelled.  
"Piper, in your situation...I..." While Odin discussed that with the witch, Tom turned to Leo.  
"Please. Bind my powers... all of them... I'm too dangerous," he whispered.  
"But... I don't think that..."  
"Leo, please," he pledged. Then he frowned.  
"Tom? What's going on?" the Elder asked. Also Phoebe noticed that something was wrong.  
Tom held his head; he heard thousands of voices in his head. "Leo, please, help me," he whispered.  
"What's wrong with this boy?" Belthazor asked.  
"Oh, he has just a kind of witch-cold," Piper lied.  
"Leo, help... they are tracing me," Tom muttered, while the voices in his head became louder and louder.  
Leo nodded. He put his hand on Tom's forehead and mumbled a few words.

°°°°°°°°°°

"Damn!" the woman in grey yelled all of a sudden.  
Steve opened his eyes again. 'What was that?' he thought. Seconds before he had joined the others, searching for the 'missing one'. He had no other chance, or they would have found out, that he was a double-agent.  
When he was connected with the others, he could feel his friend, he was there... no longer in the school, but somewhere outside... somewhere down there... But then, suddenly the connection broke off.  
"What happened?" the woman looked around at the others in that room. Then, one of them, one looking like a demon, raised his head: "Maybe they bound his powers."  
Steve swallowed. He had tried to contact his friend after that 'shut down', but he couldn't reach him.  
"But how can they know?... The only reason could be..." she stopped and looked around, "the only reason for that could be, that someone of us told those outside to hide 'the missing one' from us... So we have a traitor in our group!"

°°°°°°°°°°

"Are you feeling better?" Phoebe asked.  
Tom looked at her a little scared. He was helpless now. He could feel it. He was nothing else but an innocent, hidden in a demon's cave.  
He nodded and turned to Leo: "Thanks, I think that was the right decision."  
"I hope so," Leo replied.  
Piper sighed: "So I have to stay here with the boy, right?" Leo and Odin nodded to her. "Wonderful," she muttered and sat down on a kind of chair made of stone.  
Tom went next to her: "I'm sorry."  
"Never mind," Piper said, "maybe it's really the best to stay away from the action this time." She caressed her womb.  
"So I'll go with Bianca and Belthazor to free the demons, and you'll go with the witches," Leo said to Odin and the others.  
"No!" Bianca exclaimed. "We will go alone."  
"What?" Phoebe and Piper yelled.  
"Don't worry, I'm feeling good," she said, noticing the confused look of the others.  
"But for how long?" Phoebe asked.  
"I don't want to let you go alone with him," Leo said pointing at the source.  
"You can't come with us Leo. If they are free, the will kill you as soon as they can," the Phoenix explained, "I know what I'm doing, believe me."  
Piper sighed: "Sweetie, come over here for a moment." Bianca went to her, while the others went on discussing. "Here," Piper said, and handed the new potion for Belthazor to the Phoenix, "it might be necessary."  
"Thanks," Bianca answered, and hugged Piper lovingly.  
"Take care of yourself," the witch added, "and also... well... you know." Bianca nodded and went back to the group.  
"So everybody is ready now?" Leo asked.  
"What about Chris? I mean... we need the potion, otherwise that will not work." John remarked.  
Leo looked to Tom. If he was able to bind his powers completely, they could possibly do their reunion without him... If not, they would come and search for him, sooner or later. "I think we don't have the time to wait. We can only hope that they catch up with us by time." Odin nodded.  
"Good luck," Phoebe said. Then, the good ones orbed away.  
Belthazor murmured something, while Bianca sighed. Then they shimmered out.  
"Now it's only you and me," Piper remarked. Tom nodded and sat down next to her.  
"I wish I would know who my father really is," he said after a while.  
"Whatever he is, he loves you, I'm sure."  
Tom smiled: "I would never doubt that... I mean he raised me good, even if my mom wasn't around that much... I'm just curious who I really am."  
Piper nodded; then she frowned thinking hard: "Do you have any kind of sign, or birthmark? I mean... I can know what a lot of demons are by those signs... maybe..."  
"Yeah," Tom answered and rolled up the left sleeve of his shirt, "do you know this?" On his wrist there was a red birthmark which looked a little like a half moon or a sickle.  
Piper frowned: "No... I have never seen that... not exactly that...but..."  
"But what?" Tom asked.  
"Well..." Piper said rising her eyebrows, "it looks a little like the sign of the Phoenixes, have you ever seen Bianca's?" Tom shook his head.  
"The sign of the Phoenixes," Piper explained, "is like a bird..." The boy frowned. "And this one," she explained, pointing on his birthmark, "just looks like the 'wing-part' of it."  
"You mean... my dad is a Phoenix?" Tom asked a little confused.  
"Maybe," Piper answered. Then she smiled and thought out loud: "Maybe my little grandchild will have the same one..."  
"Your what?" Tom asked surprised.  
"Ups..." Piper turned red, "yeah... but no word to Chris... he doesn't know it yet."  
"Bianca is pregnant, and Chris is the father? Do you know what that means?" Piper was just looking at him. "That means there is another one of us, another one they need to get, for their reunion!"

°°°°°°°°°°

"You did it dad," the youngest of the two girls said with hatred showing on her childish face. "You killed mommy..." she sobbed.  
Cole stared at the dead body unbelieving. Then he turned to the girls.  
"I hate you dad!" the oldest of the two remarked. "She hated you too! She said she didn't know why, but she needed to be with you. But she hated you so much! She always hated you, and you know that. And we also hate you because you're evil, you can not be good, never!"  
"No..." he whispered, exhausted.  
"I wish you were dead," the youngest said, weeping.  
"No..." he said again, breaking down. "I didn't do that... I can't have done that..." he cried and cried, and felt as if the world was spinning. "I'm good now... I'm good, she knew that. She... she can't be dead. I loved her so much! I... I didn't do that..."  
"Maybe..." the younger girl said with a childish voice, "maybe you loved her before you became the demon again."  
Cole was speechless. He looked down on him, at the skin on his hands, his arms... It was red, completely red... He was a demon... Again he was a demon...  
"No," he whispered subbing, "no."  
"You have always been Belthazor. It's your fate, your destiny," the older girl said.  
Cole was unable to answer. He was lying over Phoebe's dead body. He was crying. He was crying so hard that he was nearly unable to breathe. All what he had loved, all what he was living for, was gone. Phoebe was dead... away... always and forever.  
Now he wished he had not returned. He wished to be back in that damned ghostly plane.

°°°°°°°°°°

Chris was looking at him, a little scared by that scene. By his words, he could imagine a little what his uncle had to go through.  
He closed his eyes, and sighed...  
Then he remembered the words he heard from the illusion of Bianca... Those which had been so different from the other things she had said. And now he realised that it hadn't been her voice, it had been Cole's voice. He must have been able to utter these words to him, before being caught by those demons of fear, too.  
And now, Chris was about to do the same for him. He wanted to step a little closer but then there was a fairy-like woman in front of him, barring his way.  
"No," she just said.  
Chris narrowed his eyes: "You can't stop me."  
"You can't help him, he has to face his fears alone," the woman replied.  
"Really? That's your opinion?" Chris asked with a cheeky smile. Suddenly he thought about what his brother had told him up there on the bridge, short before he left.  
The woman nodded, not moving out of his way.  
"So there is one thing you should keep in mind," he said, going a little closer to her, "I'm a Halliwell. And the Halliwells are strong witches. And do you know why? Because they always do everything together. A Halliwell is never on its own, never!" And then he pointed at Cole, while his voice was getting louder and louder with every word: "And that guy is a Halliwell, too. So... STEP OUT OF MY WAY!"  
The woman looked at him without showing any emotion. Then she disappeared.  
Chris knelt down next to his uncle, caressing his hair. "Uncle... Uncle Cole, can you hear me?" he whispered to his ear, "you have to fight uncle. Fight against your fears, 'cause these images aren't real."

* * *

_(Chapter 8 written by Chrissy.W.x and Belén)_


	9. Chapter 9

**A Charmed Story - Part Three:  
Double Demons  
Chapter 9**

Steve watched the woman walking around very slowly. She was facing every single Mestizo in the room, as if she could find out who was the traitor that way. Or was she really able to do so...?  
Steve felt his heart beating faster, he had to think... think... think...  
Suddenly he heard the voice of Chris in his head, in his memory. He heard what he had said in one of the first lessons he had held.  
_"You can fool anybody as long as you never get into the position of defence. 'Cause no one distrusts someone who wants to help."_  
'Man, I hope you are right,' he thought, and stepped forward.  
The woman turned around to him. "Yeah?" she asked.  
Steve tried not to look into her eyes: "I was at the school for a while, before I came here. I just remembered... The sisters, they had found a letter from an Elder... The letter was about double-demons." At that point, it was good that the connection with Tom worked in both directions.  
"So? Did they?" the woman asked suspicious.  
Steve tried to be cold: "Yeah."  
"Who wrote that letter, do you know that?" she asked.  
Steve shook his head: "Don't know, but it was sent to an Elder named Eridon, and there was a note from Gideon, our former headmaster, on it."  
The woman looked at him for a while, without uttering a word. Then she nodded, turned around and walked back to her place on that table.  
"So it seems they found out on her own," she whispered. "That's not good."

°°°°°°°°°°

Piper was still sitting on that chair, her hands on the table, looking at her fingers, while Tom had started to pace around.  
"Why don't you sit down again, you're making me nervous," she said.  
"Because I still think that we should do something. BIANCA IS IN DANGER! Damn it!"  
"Again, I can only say that there is nothing we can do," Piper replied.  
"You could call Leo."  
"And then?" Piper asked. "What will he do? Orbing there, right next to thousands of demons? No way!" Tom sighed. "Come on, boy... Sit down, there is something more I want to ask you." Tom nodded and sat down next to her.  
Piper frowned, then she started: "What about Steve's parents... I mean... You talked about that angel you saw in his mind... and then, this angel was his mother?" Tom nodded. "So... is his mother an angel?"  
Tom shrugged: "If I understood him right he doesn't think so... She's a witch. But... well that's what Steve thinks, but he doesn't now it."  
Piper was still frowning: "So she is the good... Where is she now?"  
Tom frowned. "I'm not very sure myself. I think that not even Steve knows all about his family... But after what I saw, what he showed to me... My impression is that his mom wasn't that angel exactly. I mean, the angels were erased from the existence centuries ago, if I got that well... But his mother wanted to show him what Mestizos had done... So she must have taken the shape of an angel to do so. She must be a witch... and his dad is the evil side, I guess. She knew that her son is a mestizo, a double demon, and wanted to show him the truth about them..."  
Piper nodded, but she was a bit lost in the explanation.  
"Look..." he went on, after sighing, "his mother, somehow knew that this was the time for the double demons to act... She must have discovered even before us that those witches and whitelighters were disappearing because of that, so she took the advantage that our best friend Nicki had also disappeared, and took her shape, so that Steve saw what the double demons were actually up to, and he could stop them, instead of listening to them when they were trying to convince him... as they must be doing right now!"  
Piper was listening attentively, and thinking about something else...  
"Tom..." she finally said, "you have just said that they took Nicki. They took her from the very same school? Because that's not possible..."  
Tom frowned again: "Well... Now that I think about that too... Probably Steve's mother was the one that took her out of the school, and caused this way her kidnapping. So that she could come in more easily... She didn't have to wait for her to disappear. She herself must have exposed Nicki, in the same way she took Steve out of the school..."

°°°°°°°°°°

When Cole opened his eyes again, the girls and Phoebe's body had disappeared. Besides, he didn't have the shape of Belthazor anymore. Also the trees and plants were gone. He was in the ghostly plane again... as he had wished.  
He shuddered and looked around, trembling, still lying on the floor. "Phoebe?" he mumbled.  
His eyes were completely red and teary. He blinked and looked again to the opposite direction, and he couldn't help startling.  
There he was... lying, unconscious, dying... Chris, his beloved nephew, the one that had saved him.  
Or not?  
"Chris?" he said, approaching him. He was there, very pale...  
Had all been only a dream? What if he was actually in that damned plane yet, with Chris dying, waiting for Leo to come back? What if Chris hadn't saved him after all? Or what was even worst... What if he couldn't save Chris?  
He'd never see Phoebe again; that must have been a terrible punishment that was being inflicted upon him...  
Cole crawled towards Chris, and caressed his face: "Buddy..."  
The boy's face was covered with tears. He had given up... he'd die...  
"Chris, I'm right here... You're gonna be fine soon. You need to hold on, o.k.?" he muttered, trying to forget the horrible images he had been obliged to see before, because now he knew they were all lies. He still could save Chris, however, and he needed to focus on him.  
But the boy wouldn't wake up... He shook his body gently.  
"Chris, it's o.k., you're gonna be fine... Just wake up, please..." he begged, almost moaning. He needed to save him, he didn't mind if he was doomed, but he had to save that boy...  
Chris finally opened his eyes: "I can't..."  
"You have to, man... You have to," Cole insisted, almost weeping.  
Chris shook his head, weakly: "No, you have to... Can you hear me? You have to fight, uncle. Fight against your fears, 'cause these pictures aren't real..."  
Cole was shocked. "Chris..." he whispered, "you're not yourself... You need to stay in the reality... don't leave me, o.k.?"  
"I'm right here with you, uncle... I won't leave you... you need to fight, please, I know you can..." Chris repeated in a very weak voice.

°°°°°°°°°°

"Come on, uncle..." Chris was hugging his trembling uncle, stroking his hair, begging him to be back... His own eyes were full of tears.  
"Don't leave me, o.k.?" Cole said in a very low voice.  
Chris didn't know what he was seeing exactly, but he just answered: "I'm right here with you, uncle... I won't leave you... you need to fight, please, I know you can... Come on... "  
"Chris, you're not gonna die... I swear by my life..." his uncle said.  
Chris swallowed. He had to help him out of this pain, out of this nightmare he was in.  
"Uncle, I'm here... I'll not die... listen to me... You have to fight," he whispered into his ear.  
"Don't leave me..." Cole sobbed, "I can't be alone again."  
Chris sighed. He was hugging his uncle tightly. He kissed his forehead, as if he were a little child. Chris sobbed a little, tears ran over his face. He was suffering with his uncle, remembering the pain he himself had gone through. "You're not alone..." he then whispered, " You'll never be alone...

°°°°°°°°°°

"...you're a Halliwell," Chris said with his weak voice.  
Cole looked at him without understanding. 'What was this boy talking about?' he thought, 'he must have been in a kind of dream because of his state.'  
But the dying Chris went on talking to him: "Uncle, please. You're one of us, you're a Halliwell..."  
Cole was looking at the boy in astonishment. It seemed to him that his voice had changed a little. It was now stronger in some way. Even if the body of Chris was lying there, very pale, very close to death... his voice was strong and powerful now.  
"...That's why you'll never be alone. So let me help you, as you helped me before."  
His words went deep inside Cole's mind. It took a moment till they sank in completely. Slowly he began to remember.  
"Uncle you have to fight against you fears... This isn't real," Chris went on talking.  
Cole sighed. Then, he closed his eyes.  
"This isn't real," he whispered.  
"Yeah, go on!" he heard Chris's voice.  
"This isn't real," Cole said now louder.  
He stood up. He listened... he wasn't able to hear anything. But there was a little wind...  
It had never been windy in the ghostly plane! He opened his eyes. He was in the wood again. In front of him stood Phoebe, looking at him with a smile.  
Cole just stood there, looking at her, knowing that it wasn't her, that it wasn't the real Phoebe. He stood there, still with tears in his eyes, but strong now, strong and self-confident. But he couldn't say anything, he just didn't know what he should say.  
"We never thought that you could get through this," she said, but it wasn't Phoebe's voice... It was kind of magical.  
"I'm always surprising people," Cole replied with a weak smile.  
The false Phoebe nodded. Cole felt that she was going to disappear.  
"Thanks!" he said.  
She looked up to him again: "For what?"  
Cole sighed: "You showed me something that I needed to know, something about who I really am."  
The woman smiled, then she disappeared.

°°°°°°°°°°

"Uncle? Are you o.k.?" Chris asked again.  
Cole turned around. Behind him stood Chris, his eyes red from tears like his own, his breath going fast, looking at him with sorrow.  
But when Chris looked into the eyes of his uncle, he knew that he was back. He smiled a little and asked again: "Are you o.k.?"  
Cole was unable to answer. He knew what this boy had done for him, even Chris had to live - and Cole was sure about that - his worst fears on his own. He just thought, that his nephew was amazing!  
Chris was still waiting for an answer. But then he saw a little smile on the face of his uncle, too.  
And then they hugged each other, very tightly as if the never wanted to be alone again. And again both started to cry. They just stood there, hugging each other and crying for a couple of minutes.  
Then they separated. Cole was wiping away his tears, same as Chris.  
"Come on, we have to find that damned little potion, and then let's get out of here," he said to his nephew. Chris sighed and nodded.

°°°°°°°°°°

John led them to the place from where they could reach the imprisoned witches. There were only a few low-level demons guarding the entrance.  
"That's too easy," Phoebe remarked.  
"Well... I guess they don't think that they are in danger," Leo said, "they caught nearly every witch in the world... except our little group."  
Odin nodded: "But anyway... we should be careful."  
The others nodded.  
Leo and Phoebe orbed over to the demons that, with a few kicks, were knocked out.  
When Odin and John went over to them, Phoebe was looking at the dark entrance of the tunnel with fear.  
"Any warnings, Phoebe?" Odin asked.  
"I'm not sure, I feel a lot of fear, but I think it's from the witches... I hope there is nothing else." She sighed, Leo too. Then they went in.

°°°°°°°°°°

Belthazor and Bianca advanced very self-confidently. Belthazor was especially crossed at the lie he'd been a victim of. He hated to fight on the sisters' side, but he knew he had to, in order to end up with the problem they had in common. But as soon as he got rid of those double demons, he'd be back... The Source of all Evil.  
When they reached a small and dark little entrance, they stopped. "Wait" ordered the red demon.  
Bianca obeyed, staying behind, as Belthazor paid attention to any possible noise.  
Finally, with a gesture of his hand, he indicated her that they could go on...  
Suddenly, an energy ball came from somewhere inside the narrow tunnel. Bianca ducked just in time to dodge the impact, and when a second attack took place, Belthazor was ready to counteract it with his own balls of fire. "Damn it!" he exclaimed in a very strong scaring voice.  
Bianca took advantage of his huge body to cover herself, as she waited for him to end with the enemy. It didn't take much time. It seemed there were only a couple of guardians, or three, inside.  
"Clear," announced Belthazor in a very bad mood, once he finished his job.  
Both of them continued their way along the narrow passage to which the small gate served as entrance.

°°°°°°°°°°

Veronica was stroking Sarah's hair softly, because the girl had fallen asleep, while Nicki leaned her head on the wall, pensive, as well as Tom's father did.  
Paige had stood up, tired of being a prisoner, unable to fight, and anxious, because she didn't know how her sisters and the rest of her family and friends were doing out there. The fact that none of them had been taken yet to those caves, was both good and bad. Good, because it could mean that the surely-to-be double demons hadn't been able to catch them; bad, because it could also mean that they had been badly wounded, or killed... She shivered at that thought. Things were turning really bad, from her perspective, with all the good witches of the world imprisoned there, and probably also the demons...  
Suddenly she heard a voice, a very familiar one...  
"Paige? Nicki? Steve?" Phoebe was trying all the names from which she could get a response.  
Then, at the sound of her voice, everyone inside the cave started to cry, scream, and call asking for help.  
"Phoebe?" exclaimed Paige, feeling her heart beating strongly and struggling to make her own voice heard. "Phoebe, we're here!" Paige shouted. Nicki and Veronica started to their feet. They were saved!  
But Phoebe couldn't hear their voices.  
The two girls joined Paige in their attempts of attracting her attention, but it didn't work. Everyone inside there was trying to do the same thing. Tom's father, took the scared Sarah in his arms, as he waited eagerly.  
Veronica, fed up with the situation, took a breath and shouted: "SHUT UP! EVERYONE... SHUT UP, OR I'LL TURN YOU ALL IN STATUES OF STONE RIGHT NOW!"  
It was a clear bluff, but it worked. At the same time, blue orbs illuminated the cave, making all of them close their eyes.  
"There they are, Phoebe..." the voice of Leo said.  
He, together with John and Odin, had created little balls of energy similar to their own orbs, and kept them floating, so that they could see in the darkness.  
At the end of the corridor, there was a big gate covered with strong bars, probably protected magically, and that was the reason why the witches inside couldn't use their own magic.

°°°°°°°°°°

Tom and Piper had kept silent for a while, thoughtful. Finally, Tom turned to the Charmed One and asked: "How do you feel, Mrs. Halliwell?"  
Piper frowned: "Do you mean... because of my pregnancy? I'm fine, but..."  
Tom blushed: "Yes, I meant that, but not... Not exactly. I mean, I know you're fine right now, and all... I just was wondering how does it feel, if I may ask... Having your own baby wandering around you, 23 years older than he should be in this time... " Tom had lowered his voice, regretting having asked that question at all. But he had been thinking about that for a long time, since the moment they all knew who Chris really was... The family had explained something to them after the last adventure, but it was really weird, and even more now, that she was really bearing the very same person in her womb... Or at least another version of Chris, as they had been explained.  
Piper smiled, and then chuckled: "Oh, that's what you meant... Well, it's difficult to say... Chris is my son, and this little child I bear will also be my son, but, as I see it now... they're like two different people. I guess that's the best way to understand and get used to this. And to love them both equally, but separately."  
"But they'll be like clones!"  
"Yeah, but..." she'd been wondering the same thing for a long time, as well as Leo had, "they'll be like two different people, hopefully... and I guess they'll want to be treated as such. I mean... comparisons are bad... Even if they're the same person, you know... But imagine that little Chris makes some mistake. That doesn't mean the adult version had anything to do with that." Tom nodded as she continued: "They will be treated equally, but separately... as individuals. I'm sure that Chris would agree." She smiled, and Tom did the same.  
"Yes... I guess that's the best way to handle that," he answered satisfied with the explanation. But then another question came to his mind: "And... if I'm allowed to ask... what about the baby? How do you plan to explain that to him?"  
Piper smiled again: "When Wyatt and Chris are old enough, we'll tell them the same as we told you... That Chris came here to save us, that he did it, and that, because of that, he couldn't return."  
"Yes, but... I just imagine how I would feel if I would know me, when I'm 23 years older... If I would know now how I would look like with 41... That's..."  
"... very weird," Piper ended his sentence still smiling. "But... Look, future Wyatt was here... And I think that if we were not able to handle that problem, he would have told us... So... We can..."  
Suddenly there was a noise, as if something broke.  
"What?" Piper exclaimed and stood up, as well as Tom. In the next moment they were surrounded by five lower demons, ready to kill them.  
The witches watched the demons, aware of any attack. But nothing happened. Then, two men in grey appeared in front of them.  
Both could imagine who they were. Tom trembled a little, fearful. He wasn't able to use his powers, he wasn't able to defend himself. He thought he wouldn't be able to resist them.  
The man looked at Piper, then at Tom... and then he smiled.  
"Take the witch to the cave," he ordered, "the boy comes with me."  
Then the man took Tom's arm and both disappeared.

_

* * *

(Chapter 9 written by Chrissy.W.x and Belén)_


	10. Chapter 10

**A Charmed Story - Part Three:  
Double Demons  
Chapter 10**

Cole and Chris were still walking through the woods. Now the way was easier to go, as if the trees moved aside for them.  
"What have you seen?" Cole asked after a while.  
"Don't ask," his nephew answered, "and you?"  
Cole smiled and shook his head: "Don't ask."  
Chris turned around smiling back at him. Cole stopped, so Chris stopped too.  
"Did you mean that? What you've told me? I mean, that I'm a Halliwell?"  
Chris nodded: "Sure... you're one of us. You're part of our family... Thought you already knew that."  
Cole smiled: "Yeah... but I never thought about... the name... Cole Halliwell... Maybe I should adopt this name when I marry your aunt."  
"So you will do that?" Chris asked smiling.  
"Well, not today, or tomorrow... but... in a future not so far away..." he answered, smiling happily like a little baby who's getting a toy.  
Chris shook his head. It was amazing... A few minutes ago they thought their own fear would kill them, but now they were feeling much stronger, as if they had been reborn. Even if they would never forget all that pain they had gone through, now they knew that those things would never scare them again... at least, not that much.  
Chris smiled, too. Then he turned around to go on, but suddenly he looked into the eyes of the woman he had met before.  
"Why are you still here?" she asked.  
"Who is that?" Cole whispered.  
"I think she IS the field," Chris answered.  
"Why are you still here?" she asked again.  
"Because we need the potion to kill witches, which is hidden here... somewhere," Cole answered.  
The woman frowned: "Who had sent you?"  
"Odin," Chris answered.  
The woman nodded: "So I'll give you a riddle... if you solve it, you'll get the potion and I'll send you to any place you want to be... if you don't solve it, you'll stay here till the end of all days..."  
Cole sighed: "I hate riddles."

°°°°°°°°°°

"Damn it!" Veronica swore. They had tried to open that gate, but they couldn't. Suddenly they heard a noise in the tunnel.  
"Leo, the light," Phoebe whispered. He moved his hand and the lights disappeared.  
"Come closer," Odin whispered, "I'll cloak us." So they did.  
Then, they could here voices in the tunnel. Someone was swearing as Veronica did before.  
"Oh my god," Phoebe said.  
"Piper..." this was Leo.  
Slowly the voices came closer. "Put you hands away from me, you little fucking demons!" Piper yelled.  
"Stop it, or I'll kill you right here, missy," someone replied.  
Then they saw her, coming closer, surrounded by two demons.  
When they were a few meters away from the gate, the hidden friends saw a green light appearing in the cave. Meanwhile the gate opened.  
Phoebe and Leo reacted within a second. They jumped out and killed the demons, as Piper yelled scared.  
"Piper are you o.k.?"  
"Leo?" she asked, and then hugged him relieved. "Next time you warn me before you do something like that."  
Meanwhile Paige had left the cave. Now she was hugging her sisters. "Are you o.k.?" she asked. Phoebe nodded.  
"Where is Tom? I'm his father," Mr. Marsden asked. He had also left the cave now.  
"A man in grey came to the cave and took him away," Piper explained.  
The man sighed: "So we have to hurry."  
"One minute," Piper stopped the action, while Odin and John helped one witch after another out of the cave. "You are a witch? He thought his mother was the witch, and you... well we suggested you were a Phoenix."  
"His mother is the Phoenix," he explained shortly, a little surprised that she knew that.  
"Tom's mother is a Phoenix," Phoebe yelled, thinking about Bianca, "but that means..." The mind of the empath strated to spin.  
"Really, we have no time for this," Leo remarked.  
Piper nodded: "O.k., Phoebe, Paige, Tom's dad... You'll go with Leo and the other two to that room and try to stop those people in grey."  
"I'm in, too," Nicki exclaimed.  
"Without the potion?" Phoebe asked worried.  
"You have to distract them, till Chris and Cole are back," Piper went on, "I'll help those witches here to get out and we'll make a little trouble to distract them on our own..."  
"Trouble?" Veronica asked. "I like that!"

°°°°°°°°°°

The woman looked them in the eyes, one after another, ignoring Cole's words: "Listen carefully, think carefully, don't hurry. A wrong answer has no way back. If you fail, you won't have a second chance."  
She paused. Then, adopting a very ceremonial tone, she recited: "Not all birds are reborn, but one is. And one is, that is not bird at all."  
Chris opened his mouth and eyes widely, as he saw the woman disappear with a smile on her face.  
Cole didn't realise, he was too frustrated to pay attention to their gestures: "I guess we'll need to get used to this place. It's not so horrible is it, Chris?" He turned to the boy, who seemed to be submerged in his own thoughts. "...Chris?" he repeated.  
Finally Chris reacted: "I've heard that before..." He frowned: "Just, I think I interpreted it in the wrong way..."  
"Do you mean... do you know the riddle?" asked Cole, filled with hope.  
Chris shook his head and sat down, tiredly: "I read it in the book of Shadows. Wyatt from the future left those riddles or whatever they were, like the one about the ice-cream... I thought this one was a joke, that the bird which is reborn was Bianca, and the one which is reborn, but isn't a bird was me... But it seems I was completely wrong." He sighed.  
This time it was Cole that frowned. "Well, maybe you were wrong in that interpretation... But if he wrote it, it was because he knew something... about this?" he guessed.  
Chris shrugged: "Whatever... He clearly overestimated my capacity... I don't understand a word!"  
"Come on, Chris..." Cole sat down next to him and patted his shoulder, "after what we've been through here... Haven't you learnt anything at all? You should start to be a little proud of yourself. Just a little, at least... Be more self-confident, man. I'm sure you know deep inside what this means. Otherwise, Wyatt wouldn't have left it written for you to find it."  
Chris sighed. "This is a wonderful place... And I'll be happy to share it with you," he answered sadly and sarcastically, instead.  
Cole rolled his eyes: "I don't know you, but I don't like this place anymore, and there are people waiting for us down there. So, think a bit, I promise I'll do too." He smiled.

°°°°°°°°°°

"Tom!" Steve exclaimed, feeling something half-way between fear and happiness, as he saw the boy being pushed gently towards the room in which they were all waiting. Fear, because he knew the last double demon, the one they needed to fullfill their purpose, had been found. Happiness, because he didn't feel so lonely anymore, with his friend by him now.  
"Come here, child..." the woman in grey said, smiling kindly, "are you fine? Did they do anything to you?"  
Tom turned to look at Steve, then the others. He was so scared! The leader could feel it, and stretched her arm to touch his face softly: "It's ok, my child, it's ok... You're safe now."  
Tom was shivering and didn't dare to say a single thing, so that he didn't spoil any plan. Steve realised, and went nearer. "He's my friend even if I didn't know who he really is till now... He must have been caught by the witches," he explained before the surprised and scared look of Tom.  
"Tom," he went on, looking straight in his eyes, "you're safe here, I promise. If they did something to you, just say it, ok? We need all our powers to get that wonderful, utopic world that is to come." He made emphasis on the word 'utopic'.  
"He's right... You don't have to be ashamed of anything..." the woman intervened.  
Tom looked at her, then at his friend, and finally he lowered his eyes and said in a low voice: "I... Thh... they stripped me of my powers."  
'Yes', thought Steve, showing a very weak smile that only Tom could see.  
"No! I can't believe they're doing this again!" The woman stood up, and blasted a blinding light that filled the whole room. She was furious this time: "We have to give them back to you. Then, we'll get our revenge!"  
Steve and Tom looked at each other. They were running out of time. Steve wished he could read Tom's mind now, but without his powers, it was impossible. However, he could read his eyes, and they said that, even if he was scared, he knew something those people didn't know. Something probably good for them. Bad for the double demons.

°°°°°°°°°°

After a short while thinking, Cole, who had been repeating everything in a loud voice, turned to Chris: "You said you thought the bird was Bianca? The reborn one?"  
He nodded: "But it has no sense anymore."  
"No, it has. I mean, we should have a general view... Not focus on individuals. Why did you think she was this bird, Chris?"  
Chris smirked: "Because she was reborn, somehow... And because she's a Phoenix, and the Phoenix, according to the mythology, is a bird reborn from its ashes... "  
"Exactly, man!" Cole exclaimed excited.  
"Exactly what?" asked Chris, confused. "I thought we should forget about that..."  
"Not about Phoenixes. Phoenixes are the only kind of bird that can be reborn..."  
"Yeah, fine... And what about that 'whatever' which is reborn and which is not bird at all?"  
"That's exactly what is being reborn in me, man. Right now!" Cole smiled.  
"Well, I wouldn't rise up my hopes, I... wait."  
Cole was grinning more and more widely as he listened to his upset nephew: "You got it!"  
Chris was surprised. How hadn't he thought about that before? Because he was so worried about his own life that he wasn't able to see the whole? He should have focused on that riddle as something separated from himself!  
"Hope..." he muttered. Of course, he had studied it. He should have known. "Phoenixes represent immortality... but also the 'rebirth' of HOPE!"  
"And these are the fields of Hope, buddy... By the way... Hope, sounds good. It's a beautiful name for a girl." Cole smiled, victorious.  
Chris was really shocked but then, he truth found it's way into his mind: "You did it, uncle. You solved it on your own!"  
"You mean...?" Cole asked.  
Chris rose and started to pace in front of his uncle: "Yes... the hope... that must be the solution, the Phoenix means hope... maybe Wyatt just wanted to tell us with this riddle, that we shall never give up!"  
Cole sighed: "But if we are wrong..."  
Chris let out some air: "If you haven't any better idea, I think we should try it, 'cause we're running out of time, right?"  
Cole nodded.  
Chris closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Bianca I'll return to you, and then you'll explain everything to me," he whispered. Then he opened his eyes again and yelled to the trees around them: "The Phoenix is the bird that is reborn, and the other one is the hope it stands for!"  
Nothing happened.  
"Maybe they couldn't hear you..." Cole remarked ironically.  
Chris sighed: "Maybe we were wrong..."  
"No, you are not."  
Chris turned around while Cole jumped up.  
The woman smiled at them: "You are very wise, so I hope you will be careful with that potion."  
She gave Cole a little vial with a white shining liquid in it.  
"And now, decide to which place I shall send you."  
Chris looked to his uncle who nodded. So he turned back to the woman: "Please send us to Bianca, the Phoenix, my fiancée... wherever she is at this moment." The woman nodded.

°°°°°°°°°°

Bianca and Belthazor stood in front of the gate which closed the demons prison. Differently from the witch-prison, there was a clear grey light.  
"Bianca?"  
The Phoenix tried to find out form where this voice had come. Then she saw her mother. "Mom!" she yelled.  
The woman went closer to the gate, with a little girl on her arms. Bianca swallowed; she hadn't seen her little-self before. That was... amazing. "Are you o.k.?" she asked. The woman nodded.  
"Damn it!" Belthazor swore. He tried to open the gate, but it didn't work.  
Bogus had come closer too, while the other demons in the cave became more and more uneasy. He smiled, when he saw Bianca working together with the source of all evil. "Could you please try to calm them down?" Bianca asked him. Bogus nodded.  
Then she stepped back to Belthazor: "How long do you need, I thought you knew how to open this!" The source was just grumbling.  
Bianca sighed. Then she felt a little pain from her womb. For a short moment she was groggy, but then the feeling left her as soon as it had come.  
"Bianca?" her mother asked worried.  
The Phoenix looked into the eyes of her mother with fear. She felt a tear running down her cheek.  
Her mother swallowed. Then, she put her hand over her mouth surprised and shocked. Her daughter was pregnant. She knew about the arrangement, and now her daughter was pregnant.  
"Hey, Phoenix," Belthazor mumbled, "need your help here."  
Bianca turned around to him again. She knew she had to be strong. There were bigger problems to solve than hers.  
A little later they managed to open the gate together, and the demons ran out.  
"Go with them and make a little trouble," Bianca ordered to the source, "I'll go and help the others."  
Belthazor grumbled... A Phoenix telling him what to do... That was disgusting.  
"You will not go," Bogus said with a hard voice. He was standing right behind Bianca grasping her arm. Next to him stood her mother, he face was kind of frozen. Another Phoenix held the little girl in his arms. Two more surrounded them.  
Bianca swallowed, looking at Belthazor for help.  
He frowned looking at the Phoenixes. He knew, even if he didn't like it, that they needed Bianca for completing the plan. "Let her go," he commanded while nearly all demons had run out.  
Bogus smiled evilly and took out a little dagger: "This is just a matter of the Phoenixes... not yours!" Bianca tried to free herself, while the little version of her started to cry.  
Suddenly white orbing lights filled the place, and Cole and Chris materialised in front of them.  
"Bianca?" Chris exclaimed when he saw the scene.  
"Belthazor?" Cole asked surprised.  
Then suddenly an energy ball flew between them and hit one of the Phoenixes. Surprised they turned around. It seemed that the source had missed someone before.  
Cole pulled Chris next to the wall looking for cover, while Bianca's mom and the Phoenix with the girl tried to hide inside the cave.  
Bianca was trying to hide too, while Belthazor, Bogus and the other two Phoenixes fought against the demon.  
Chris wanted to help his fiancée, but he couldn't; he was still powerless.  
Bianca observed the fight. She saw that Belthazor was hit by the demon. And also Bogus was hit on his arm. She felt sorry for him. It was crazy; he wanted to kill her... But he was a Phoenix like her...  
Then she saw that the demon prepared another ball of energy. Bianca jumped out and pushed Bogus out of the line. The next she felt was the burning hit of the energy-ball on her chest.  
"NOOOOOOO!" Chris yelled desperate, seeing his love breaking down.  
In the next second Belthazor blew the demon up, before he broke down, too.  
Chris ran over to Bianca, and knelt down next to her. She was hurt very badly. Blood ran out the gash in her chest.  
"Oh sweetie," Chris said crying, "why have you done this?" He felt all his nightmares come true. He couldn't lose her, he couldn't...  
She smiled weekly: "He is one of my kind." Meanwhile Bogus rose and watched her too. Also Cole was looking at Bianca.  
"Sweetie, don't leave me, o.k.? You have to be strong... I'm not able to heal you... don't leave me please," Chris cried in pain. Then he looked to the other and yelled: "You have to do something, you must save her!"  
But no one did anything; they were all paralysed by that scene.

_

* * *

(Chapter 10 written by Chrissy.W.x and Belén) _


	11. Chapter 11

**A Charmed Story - Part Three:  
Double Demons  
Chapter 11 **

"Honey," Bianca whispered, touching his face softly. Her hand was so cold. "I'm so sorry... I..."  
"No, don't say that, sweetie, you'll be alright I swear."  
"I'm sorry, that I didn't tell you..." she went on. But then she was shaken by a wave of pain.  
"No... sweetie, don't leave me... don't leave me..." Chris cried desperate. He had to do something, but he couldn't.  
"I love you..." she whispered.  
"I love you too, but... please... stay with me... o.k... you have to... I need you..." he cried in pain. He couldn't let that happen, but he knew there was nothing he could do... not without his powers.  
Cole put his hand on his nephew's shoulder. He didn't know what else he could do.  
Bianca closed her eyes.  
"Noooooo!" Chris yelled. He couldn't stand this. He couldn't lose her. He needed her! He cried, remebering what he saw in the fields. That couldn't happen, he couldn't lose her.  
Suddenly there was a light. It came from inside Bianca's body. A little orange-golden light. It started at her belly and went over to her chest.  
Chris was looking at it with eyes and mouth wide open, without understanding, without believing.  
Cole frowned. 'Could that be...?' he thought.  
The light surrounded the wound in her chest... and it healed her. The wound was getting smaller and smaller. Bianca's breathing calmed down, and when the light disappeared, the wound was gone and she slowly opened her eyes.  
She smiled a little and sat up slowly. Chris was looking at her astonished. Then he hugged her tightly, more than happy to have her back.  
Cole smiled, too. He was relieved that she was alright... he couldn't imagine what had happened, otherwise.  
Chris looked into her eyes: "I... I don't understand this... I mean... That wasn't me... My powers... What... What was this?"  
Bianca smiled, looking at her womb, caressing it softly. Then she looked into Chris's eyes: "Well... I think your little child has done that to me."  
Chris looked at her surprised and unbelieving: "My what?"  
Bianca smiled at him, caressing his cheek: "Honey, I'm pregnant."  
Chris took a deep breath. "Oh, my god," he smiled. That was overwhelming... "I'll be a daddy?" he asked with sparkling eyes. She nodded smiling. "That's fantastic, unbelievable, wonderful..." Chris was so happy that he didn't know what to say exactly.  
"Not all birds are reborn, but one is. And one is, that is not bird at all," repeated Cole smiling, "that fits exactly!"  
"But why didn't you tell me before?" Chris asked then, frowning.  
Bianca turned pale.  
"Because she's not allowed to have that child. That's why she has to die," one of the Phoenixes said.  
"No!" Bogus yelled.

°°°°°°°°°°

"You can start right now, Miss 'I've-got-in-my-hands-the-power-and-the-knowledge-to-destroy-the-world'!" Paige yelled, as she entered the room with the round table, followed by a big bunch of witches.  
The woman started at her voice and turned to see her. "What the hell are you..." but she stopped, when she saw all the others behind her.  
Instead of going on talking, she blasted a huge ray on them, but Leo made it explode with his own rays and the woman had to duck to avoid the blasting effect.  
"My people, we need to fight! This is starting once again! They'll kill all of us, and destroy our golden dream!" she cried in the attempt to push the new-found double demons to an attack.  
However, Steve, taking advantage of the confusion generated by the sudden attack of the witches, tried to take control of the situation, himself: "No! Listen to me! This woman is lying! Forget what you have seen! You've been living as witches and demons all your lives and no one has treated you as inferiors, as they are claming!"  
The woman in grey glared at Steve: "You traitor, you, Judas! Kill him, kill him right now, for our future's sake!"  
The two men by her threw energy balls at the boy, but he avoided them, and went on, as some of the witches tried to prevent any other attack from the men in grey. "I have seen the truth! I saw what they did in the past, they only caused destruction. They even destroyed a whole race of angels!"  
Meanwhile Tom struggled to get to Phoebe.  
"You should hide yourself, you don't have your powers..." she said.  
Tom nodded, but before running behind the other witches, asked: "What about the potions? Even if they believe Steve, we need the potions. Haven't Chris and Cole come back?"  
Phoebe didn't answer; she was so worried; she preferred not to answer, but to stick to the action.  
"Don't worry, we'll sort this out. Go out there, quickly, with Piper, John and your friends, they're helping the others to escape," said his father, smiling at him from behind.  
Tom smiled back and nodded. Then he ran out.  
At that very moment, the woman started to form another ray aimed at Steve, who was looking at the mestizos around him. But then, one of those who had been raised as a demon, threw an energy ball at her and at the two men.  
"He's right! I won't serve these people anymore. I'm happy with my own evil world," he smirked.  
The woman fell back a little, but her wounds were healed right away. "You can't kill us... And if you join us, Mestizos... Nobody will be able to kill you..." she smirked.

°°°°°°°°°°

Piper, Odin and John were outside the room in a long corridor which joined the two tunnels that led to the prisons. The Elder and the whitelighter, who weren't very used to the fighting stuff, decided to help Piper in her task. They assigned a half-whitelighter to every two witches, so that they could orb back home. All the witches and demons were running away at that very moment, and they, together with Veronica, were leading them to the place where they'd be able to orb away.  
Nicki had left with Sarah, who was really distressed.  
Tom decided to join the Charmed One and Piper, who smiled sadly, said: "It seems that Bianca and Belthazor did it too... But I wonder what the hell is going on in there..."  
Tom nodded: "If I can help."  
"No way!" Piper realised the boy was without any powers at all. John, please, orb him back to the school. And see if Cole and Chris are back. We need that potion..."  
The whitelighter obeyed and grabbed Tom's hand to orb him to the magic school.

°°°°°°°°°°

All the faces inside the cave turned at once to look in Bogus's eyes, in surprise.  
"No..." he repeated, humbly.  
"What? But you said that..." was the voice of one of the female Phoenixes that had stayed back.  
"I know what I said... But I can't do that. She has saved me... us. And, even if I think these little creatures, mixture of good and evil, can be really dangerous..." Chris hugged Bianca instinctively. "I think we can actually make some kind of... alliance with good witches," Bogus went on. "After all...", he sighed, "we're all witches, aren't we?"  
Bianca's mother embraced her little child strongly, tears streaming down her face, as Chris did the same with the adult version and helped her up.  
Cole had been observing in silence, moved, until he heard Belthazor's groaning behind him. He frowned, and got a bit away from this sweet scene, to watch the demon: He was badly wounded, and suffering. And he didn't know why, but he felt some pity for him. Bogus had been able to forgiven Bianca's child's life because she had saved his... If the evil witch could do that... wouldn't the good side be able to forgive a demon that had saved all their lives? He shook his head and turned to Chris, who was distracted enough with his love.  
"Cole..." Belthazor mumbled weakly, "you won..." Cole sat down by him, and frowned, remembering how in his vision, his father said that Cole would win... Cole closed his eyes, and touched the demon's arm. "There's no 'you' or 'me'," he whispered, enigmatically, "we're the same person... want it or not."  
"Cole!" It was Chris's voice: "We need to go, and prepare the potion. This hasn't finished." Cole nodded, but said nothing.  
Chris turned to Bianca: "Can you shimmer us?" She nodded. "Then, take also Belthazor to the manor, and we'll imprison him in a cage of crystal. We can try to save him later."  
All the faces turned this time towards the boy, who smiled. "This is not the moment to kill him... And who knows... 'Hope' has been 'reborn' today'" he said simply.  
Cole smiled back at him, grateful, without the others noticing. "Yeah... And literally," he muttered while looking straight to Bianca's womb, "Literally... This Wyatt will be a genius." He grinned.  
All the witches shimmered, some to help the good ones, others to their homes.

°°°°°°°°°°

John and Tom reached the school. There was no one else there. "Damn it," Tom swore.  
John grasped his shoulder and looked him in the eyes: "O.k. Tom, you'll stay here, here you're safe. I'll go back and help the witches to orb away from the underworld, o.k.?"  
Tom nodded; even if he felt not very well imagining that he should stay there, alone.  
"If Chris and Cole come here," the whitelighter went on, "tell them to hurry. They must call me!" Tom nodded again and John orbed back to the underworld.  
Now the young witch was alone. He looked around the empty hall and sighed.  
God, he had never believed that his life as witch could be so... full of action. But now he was a friend of the Charmed Ones. First he thought that this was great, but now... now he began to realise that this meant a lot of danger for him. But he was also proud of that... Proud that they trusted him. He smiled and sat down on the stairs. He wished he could be with them right now.  
Suddenly he heard a little noise, a kind of giggling. He followed that noise, to the library. Then he smiled.  
There on the ground sat little Wyatt playing with a fluffy toy.  
"Oh boy, I'm sure your mommy is worried about you... It was a good decision to orb here, when they attacked us in the cave... You're very wise for your age," he said smiling stroking his hair. Then he took the little boy and went back to the hall.  
Suddenly the air in front of him was twisting. He stopped, afraid of whoever would come to kill them now.  
But the persons who shimmered in were just Bianca, Cole, Chris, another Phoenix and...  
"Mom?" Tom put Wyatt on the ground, ran over to her and hugged her tightly.  
Bogus looked at the Phoenix with angry eyes, while she looked back at him afraid.  
"Mom?" asked Bianca, Chris and Cole at the same time.  
"Another child of a Phoenix and a witch, damn it, that's disgusting," Bogus remarked.  
Tom looked at him, then at his mother, then he noticed her birth-sign and took a step backwards: "You? You are the Phoenix? But I thought you were a witch? Why did you do that to me? Why did you lie to me?" Tom was shocked and nearly crying.  
His mother sighed: "Because they wouldn't accept you, if they had known..." she stopped looking at Bogus.  
"This day is a little freaky," he said with a weak smile, "I think this place is corrupting us... I think I won't remember anything I hear and see here today..."  
"Thanks," Tom's mother said.  
"Tom," Chris started, "me and Bianca will go and complete the potions. Would you stay here, with your mom? I think you have a lot to talk about." Tom nodded.  
Then Chris turned to Bogus: "You go to the charmed ones, help them. As soon as the potions are ready Bianca will bring me there." Bogus nodded, too.  
"Before that, take me and Wyatt to the manor. I will look after my other half," Cole said. So they did.

°°°°°°°°°°

A little later Chris was in the lab. He held a half-filled potion-bottle in his left hand, and the witch-potion in his right.  
"Don't harm youself... Be careful!" Bianca warned him.  
Chris smiled: "You bet I will."  
Slowly he decanted a part of the witch-potion in the other bottle. There was a bright light when the two liquids came together.  
"Why didn't you tell me that before?" Chris asked while the light went lower and lower till it was away, and all that left was a now dark-red liquid.  
Bianca sighed; she had been afraid of this question, since she had told him. "I was afraid, because of the arrangement," she tried to explain, while he prepared the other potion carefully, "I was afraid that you wouldn't understand... I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to give birth to that child."  
Chris placed the bottles on the table. Then he sighed and turned around. "But that's what love means, right? I mean, we should go through those things together... or not?" he said, while he went closer to her. She just looked to the ground and nodded. A tear ran over her cheek. Chris wiped it away. "Bianca, I love you... I love you more than what can be said with words... And I'm there for you, all the time... Next time you have a problem, you tell me, o.k.?" he smiled at her.  
She sobbed a little, then nodded: "O.k., honey, I swear."  
They hugged each other tightly and kissed full of love.  
Then the Phoenix looked into Chris's eyes: "Take the potions and then let's end this."  
He nodded with a smile, took the potions from the table and grasped her hand. Together they shimmered away.

°°°°°°°°°°

Bogus shimmered Wyatt and Cole to the hallway of the manor. Cole sighed. Then he took the boy and went up the stairs. He wanted to talk to Belthazor, he felt he needed to.  
But when he reached the attic, he found it empty. Afraid, he looked around.  
The crystals lay on the ground, two of them were broken.  
"Belthazor?" he called. But there was no answer.  
He went a little closer to the place where they had left the wounded Source. Cole noticed a paper lying on the ground. He picked it up and read:  
"You don't really believe that you can keep the Source of all evil in a cage like that, do you?  
Have a nice day. B."  
Cole smiled. In a very weird way, he felt relieved that he had been able to escape.  
"Come on, Wyatt. Let's go down and read a fairytale," he said then to the little boy.  
Wyatt smiled: "Unce Co..." Cole smiled back at the little boy and walked out with him.

°°°°°°°°°°

"How are they doing?" Nicki asked, returning to Piper. She had gone with Sarah till she was safe. Now she wanted to help, too.  
"How can I know that? I'm trying to get all those witches out of here," Piper answered a little frustrated. It wasn't easy to lead those witches into the right direction, 'cause a lot of them didn't understand her language.  
Nicki just nodded and went to the grand cave, to her friends, to Steve.  
When she entered the room. Steve was talking to the other mestizos there.  
'Good grief,' she thought. She had never imagined that there were so many of them.  
The men in grey were attacking Paige, Phoebe and the others, while the woman attacked Steve. She ran over to him, pushing the others out of her way. She wanted to help him.  
"Nicki," he yelled surprised. He had turned around to her when he felt her hand grasping his own. She just smiled at him.  
"I swear by my life you will not destroy all my plans, not this time!" the woman in grey yelled. Then she sent out another ray of energy into Steve's direction.  
Steve didn't know what to do. He just graspped Nicki holding her close and tried to cover her. He just wanted to save her.  
Nicki was sure that they would get hit.  
But then something glimmered around them.  
'A forcefield? I have a forcefield?' he thought.  
The rays which the woman had sent out were just reflected away from them.  
"How have you done this?" Nicki asked, shivering.  
He smiled at her: "I don't know."  
"Paige!" Phoebe yelled at the same time. "We need to do something. We can't stand this any longer!"  
Paige orbed an energyball back to the grey-dressed man and turned to her sister: "Any idea?"

°°°°°°°°°°

Bogus shimmered where Piper, John and Odin stood, sending the remaining magical beings to their homes.  
"Can I help?" he asked.  
"Yeah..." Piper said, tiredly. "We've almost finished. I guess you can... take some of the demons to their place," she added in a disgusted tone.  
Bogus nodded, and did as he was told. Once he had finished there, he'd go back with his people.  
Then Piper turned to Odin and John: "Do you think you can handle this without me? Just get those over there, and orb them back home... With a bit of luck, by when you finish we'll have finished here too... we'll see you in the school, ok?"  
The three men nodded, and she, with a deep sigh, got ready to enter the room where the others were fighting.

°°°°°°°°°°

It was all a complete mess. Those mestizos were also fighting now, even though they didn't know well who the enemy was.  
"Paige! We need to do something. We can't stand this any longer!"  
"Any idea?" these were her sisters' voices.  
Piper looked around anxiously, but neither Chris nor Cole had come back yet. What if they had di...? She couldn't end the stream of her thoughts, when a voice interrupted them.  
"Will this do, instead of ideas?" It was Chris's voice!  
Piper grinned when she saw him there, standing bravely by the side of Bianca, facing the woman in grey, just between her and Steve and Nicki. Her sisters and Leo, even Mr. Marsden, smiled happily when they saw him, and sighed, relieved.  
Suddenly, the woman blasted her rays towards the couple, in her last desperate attempt to save her cause. But Chris and Bianca had already thrown their little vials to the two men and the woman.  
"No!" Piper cried, when she saw the woman's attack. She used her blowing powers against her, even though she knew it was useless.  
The rays had already been thrown towards Bianca and Chris, and they didn't have time to run away, not even to hug each other. They closed their eyes. "Nooo!" they heard coming from different people. Piper, the sisters, Leo, Steve and Nicki, and also the three double demons that were being disintegrated.  
"No..." Bianca gasped, and pressed her face on Chris's chest, when they felt the quaking movement around them. It was as if the world was going to collapse over their heads. But it ended, and they opened their eyes slowly, only to see they were safe and sound. In front of them, there was nothing. Only ashes, grey ashes.  
"Oh, my God!" Nicki cried, surprised, "I can't believe it! Bianca has got a forcefield too, and even a much bigger one? But I thought Phoenixes didn't have those powers!"  
Chris blinked, shocked, his heart beating and his hand gripping Biancas strongly. The woman looked down to her womb, unbelieving. Then, the couple turned to see the sisters, who smiled relieved.  
Leo nodded, grinning more than glad: "The Halliwell babies are very protective with their families." He winked, as Piper chuckled. Now he knew it, too.  
Chris and Bianca hugged tightly, aware of the fatal destiny they had just escaped from.  
"O.k., o.k... I'm sorry to spoil this, but..." Paige said, "we need to go back home!"  
She winked to all the half-demons, half-witches, half-whitelighters, and every possible combination inside there. They nodded, and started shimmering or orbing away, according to their powers. As Paige had said... back home... whatever their home was.  
Phoebe sighed: "Guess we can not turn them all to the good side..."  
Leo laughed: "This is the weird way the world works: Good versus evil. That's the only way to keep the tip of the balance stable."  
"And this..." Chris said in a grave tone, turning to Steve and Nicki, "this is the lesson you've learnt today! Tomorrow, we'll take an exam on... let me think... Double Demons?"  
The two young witches laughed, still embraced since the moment Steve had created his own forcefield. Before that day, Steve had been Nicki's best friend, but she had felt that weird feeling of admiration towards his gorgeous headmaster, Chris... However, at this very moment, Nicki couldn't take her eyes from Steve, and was unable to stop thinking that he had been a true hero that day.  
"Oh... you're so cute," Bianca pinched Chris's cheek, "isn't he, little baby? Your daddy is sooo cute!"  
Paige rolled her eyes, took Piper's hand, and grabbed Steve with the other, and orbed them, together with Nicki to the magic school.  
Leo shrugged. "I guess she means that we should leave..." and did the same with Phoebe and Tom's father.  
Chris and Bianca stayed a bit longer, looking around them, pensive. The round table was impeccable.  
"King Arthur..." Bianca joked, "your Lady Guinevere really needs a rest."  
Chris smiled: "They really believed in their Camelot, you know? They really did..." He muttered with a sad voice: "But I guess that Camelot is only a dream."  
Bianca pressed his hand: "Camelot? Chris, we've got our particular Camelot waiting for us, at home." She took her hand, kissed him sweetly on his lips, and shimmered straight to the manor.

°°°°°°°°°°

"Well... Home, sweet home!" Piper exclaimed, once she arrived at the manor and sat down on the sofa, by Cole. "Where is this Derrick?"  
"Hush...!" he ordered, really terrified, "I've been reading fairy tales the whole day, please... I repeated each one zillions of times. Just... please, don't wake him up... I won't be able to bear another session of 'The Magic Cauldron' and 'Merlin'. "  
Paige and Phoebe, who had also arrived together with Leo, chuckled, as Phoebe sat down on Cole's knees.  
"You've proved to be the best of the daddies today, believe me," she said cockily, reaching to his mouth with hers. He gave her back the kiss and smiled.  
Paige chuckled then turned to her oldest sister: "Derrick? Home, I guess... somewhere in Australia..."  
"Well, I think I'll take this little knight to his bedroom before he awakes," Piper stated with a sigh, holding Wyatt in her arms. Leo kissed him and stroked his hair before Piper took him away.  
"Hey... What about... Belthazor?" Paige asked, remembering suddenly. "Tom's mom told us that he had been wounded and that you had brought him here..."  
Cole sighed as he gave her the note: "Yeah, well... It seems my other half is as clever as I am."  
"Oh, you're so silly!" Phoebe exclaimed, slapping softly his cheek. He laughed.  
"By the way..." he said, "where are the kids?"  
"Well... We took Steve and Nicki to the school, and then they went home from there, I guess. Tom was already there with his mother. I gave him his powers back, and well, the whole family left together. It seems they need to talk, poor boy... His mind was a complete mess," Leo explained. "By the way... Where's Chris? I should give him the powers back, too..."  
He looked at Cole, frowning, as well as Phoebe did.  
"Oh..." he sighed. "He's up there," he pointed with the finger at the ceiling, "attic, with Bianca. But I don't think it's a good idea to give him the powers back. Not yet." He grinned: "I think that can wait."  
"Oh..." said Phoebe and Leo at the same time.  
The father of the alluded boy blushed: "O.k., I guess this can wait..."

°°°°°°°°°°

"Bianca..." Chris whispered.  
"Hummm..?" she was almost asleep. They were lying on a mattress in the attic, embraced lovingly.  
"I think we should tell them all... about the... baby."  
"Tomorrow, sweetie... Now I'm tired..."  
Silence...  
Some seconds later: "Bianca..."  
"Yeah...?"  
"How did Wyatt know all this? I mean, those riddles in the book of shadows and all..."  
"No idea..." a sleepy voice answered.  
"He's just a little boy now.. I guess we should tell him all this... just in case. He should know, by when he's a grown up... Oh, but... well, if he changed what he came to change he won't be back, so... if the other version of Wyatt wrote this, and now he's another version, well, maybe this doesn't make sense."  
"Sweetie, please... sleep."  
Silent.  
"Bianca..."  
"Hummm... yeah...?"  
"The baby..."  
"What's up with him now?"  
"How are we going to call her? The riddle... I think it was meant also for her, you know... I think that Cole thinks the same... Maybe Wyatt was saying that this baby is called Hope, so we should probably call her... Hope?"  
"Her? O.k... I just HOPE that you wanna sleep a little bit, baby... Just that. I promise... Tomorrow we'll talk as much as you like."  
"O.k..." he kissed her head.  
Some minutes later:  
"Bianca..."  
No response.  
"Oh... It seems you fell asleep. I just wanted to say... Good night and... I love you so much."  
No answer. But Bianca's lips raised in a sweet and grateful smile.

* * *

_(Chapter 11 written by Chrissy.W.x and Belén)_**_

* * *

And that's the end of part 3! We hope you've enjoyed it... Next part "A Charmed Story - Part Four" will start as soon as possible... so stay tuned!_**


End file.
